After a while, the diagnosis on Lyria's condition was out, and Eric sighed with disappointment.
Lyria had the same trials as him, and just like him, only her Intelligence stat trial could be completed with her rank up to mid-stage.
Eric emerged from Mind Space and informed Lyria that her medical condition was same as his, and she could only enjoy one ability at this moment.
Lyria wasn't disappointed. She really wanted to know how these ability could work without any Mana.
She closed her eyes and stopped restricting her Mana Vein's expansion, focusing on pumping it with more Mana.
After an hour or so, Lyria successfully broke through to mid-stage and opened her eyes with a puzzled expression similar to Livy's.
Livy quickly asked, "How is it?"
She was a bit anxious. She did want Lyria's ability to be cool but at the same time worried that it would be too cool, and she would no longer be able to mock her.
Lyria didn't answer and glanced around. She found a coconut tree lying on the ground not far from her place—perfect for her experiment.
Quite a few trees had been uprooted when she destroyed a small portion of the hill, leaving them rolling across the island.
She raised one hand.
Suddenly, it was almost as if the coconut tree had become iron and Lyria's hand had turned into a magnet—it rolled and then flew toward her midair.
Before it could arrive a few meters from her, Lyria's eyes flashed, and the tree was hurled backward with much greater speed toward a sturdy-looking rock.
The tree snapped in half after hitting the rock, while the rock crumbled from the impact.
Not as amazing as Livy's 'Hydro Explosion,' yet what Lyria did was equally astonishing.
Eric and Livy turned toward Lyria and waited for her explanation.
Lyria pondered deeply, then explained:
"I feel like I can pull anything toward myself and also push anything away—that's exactly how I felt. And... it truly didn't consume my Mana. I just felt that is how it should be..."
Even she herself found it inconceivable.
Eric and Livy nodded in total acceptance. They had experienced enough not to find Lyria's explanation strange.
"Ly, can you only pull objects toward yourself, or humans too?" Livy inquired curiously.
Lyria frowned slightly in thought, then raised her hands toward Livy.
She felt she didn't really need to raise her hands to use this ability, but if she didn't, it would feel even stranger—so she decided to go with it.
She needed more time to accept her own 'ability' in her heart.
Before Livy could resist, she was hauled toward Lyria at incredible speed.
Before Lyria's palm could touch Livy, Livy's body 'skipped' and collided with hers with great momentum.
Both tumbled and started rolling on the white sand.
Eric was speechless, then burst into laughter.
Good thing they missed—otherwise, their first lip-to-lip kiss would have flown away with each other.
Lyria and Livy quickly jumped up, covered in white sand, their cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
Lyria promised herself she would never use this 'pull' function on Livy again.
While they were dusting off the sand, Eric asked, "Ly, can you only pull or push one thing at a time, or more together?"
Lyria thought, then flung her hands outward and 'pushed.'
Everything was pushed away from Lyria—even the sand beneath her feet.
"Ahh—!" Livy suddenly screamed as she was blown away, rolling across the sand again.
She landed over ten meters from her initial position beside Lyria.
Livy's Mudskipper ability had activated, but after one 'skip,' she couldn't evade in time and was pushed far away. This also revealed her ability's limitation—she couldn't dodge an Area of Effect attack, at least not yet.
Lyria smirked faintly, watching Livy's arrogant ass get trashed.
She felt this ability was perfect for countering Livy.
All good—except she herself fell a meter down as the sand beneath her was blown away.
Eric calmly 'blinked' a dozen meters away, avoiding the charging sand wave.
After escaping getting a sand bath, Eric was amazed—Lyria's ability was quite useful for both offense and defense.
Undoubtedly, it was tied to her Gravity Element.
Once everything settled, a wild shriek came from somewhere:
"Ly, you're picking a fight with me, right? Take this!"
Suddenly, a droplet of water flew out from the ocean and darted toward Lyria.
Both Lyria and Eric felt a chill down their spines.
Before Eric could yell to stop, Lyria 'pushed' the droplet away—thankfully, it flew into the empty sky and exploded high above.
"Haha! Give up, Liv! You can't best me anymore!" Lyria laughed maniacally.
She no longer feared her 'Elder Sister' position being snatched by Livy.
Livy's long lavender hair rose midair alongside her wrath.
Eric and Lyria's faces paled—their hearts sank at what they saw.
Dozens of water droplet rose from the ocean like soldiers raising spears, poised to unleash devastation upon their queen's enemy.
Just before they could accelerate, Eric blinked in front of Lyria, raising his hand toward Livy and thundering:
"LIV, STOP!"
Livy's heart lurched as her attack surged toward Eric. She swiftly diverted the strikes far out to sea.
Eric and Lyria's lips trembled at the distant rumbling explosions.
They even felt the island shake slightly.
Thankfully, no one was around—otherwise, they would have drawn attention.
This incident once again reminded them that they were truly no longer children, and their capabilities could be devastating to the environment and surroundings.
Livy sprinted back, laughing awkwardly:
"Ha-ha... Sorry... I went too far..."
She'd lost her cool after being thrown into the sand twice in front of Eric.
Lyria took a silent deep breath. She promised herself that even if she wanted to provoke or make fun of Livy, it should never be near any large water source!
Eric waved his hand dismissively.
He wouldn't blame either of them—that was how they should train to gain experience. Sadly, these islands were too weak to withstand their full-powered, barbaric actions.
He turned toward the beautiful amber-eyed girl behind him, "Ly, is there no way to resist the pull of your ability?"
Lyria thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Sorry, I don't understand my ability or its limitations yet," she said with an apologetic tone. "I need to observe it more later to fully comprehend."
She even felt her ability was boosting her Intelligence stats twice as strongly while using it—which was utterly ridiculous and made no sense—and while doing so, it wasn't improving her Mana Control or making her capable in any way.
She didn't know how to explain this strange feeling to others. She needed to look deeply into her ability when she was alone to make any sense of it.
Nonetheless, she was very excited to have such an excellent ability.
There were also many things to consider while using it—for example, how she destroyed her own footing while using it. This would only bring her trouble, as it wasn't always necessary that she'd be standing on a strong platform.
Eric agreed. He couldn't blame Lyria for not understanding her own ability right now—he himself had taken quite some time to understand his Blink. He just wondered—what was the limitation of her ability? The weight of objects? The stats of an individual compared to hers?
Eric turned to glance at the horizon and noticed the sun was disappearing.
"Brother Eric, was that your ability?" Lyria asked with bright eyes, shining like two suns.
Livy's eyes also lit up. "Yes, Brother Eric, what is your ability?"
She hadn't really noticed how Eric had appeared in front of Lyria. She'd just thought he had jumped over—her focus had been solely on teaching Lyria a harsh lesson.
Eric smiled, then disappeared and reappeared behind Livy—three meters away, in case she suddenly attacked him for spooking her.
"This is my ability," he called out to both girls.
Both Lyria and Livy suddenly lost sight of Eric right in front of them—as if he'd disappeared into thin air—before they could search for him, they heard his voice from behind Livy.
They looked over and were amazed.
They realized that this ability was far more impressive than theirs—Eric could dodge all their new abilities with ease and appear behind them.
Livy rushed up to Eric and exclaimed enthusiastically, "Is that Teleportation? So cool!"
Eric smiled and shook his head. "No, I decided to call it 'Blink.' Even though it looks like Teleportation, many things are different from a Teleportation array."
Lyria strode towards them while agreeing with Eric's explanation.
"Then, Brother Eric, what should I call my ability?" She was very happy internally—all three of them had improved greatly that day.
Eric mused for a moment, then spoke: "Your ability resembles gravity, but there's also 'push,' which seems like anti-gravity. I think this is peak gravity power—so let's call it 'Absolute Gravity.'"
Lyria's eyes brightened.
'Absolute Gravity!'
What a cool-sounding name!
"Alright, let's return. I need to make some artifacts for our remaining trials; it should take a few days. You girls can now start focusing on the final projects you have in mind—we only have a month left."
Eric felt they now needed to speed up everything. They no longer even had time to play with spells or scrolls anymore.
It was best if they could transform big things into small things, as their Space Rings and Pouches couldn't hold even one-tenth of what was in that cave. It was regretful to leave so many expensive and valuable things behind, but they had no other options.
They had all gained 31 points in each stat today, so they could now do much more in their professions from this day onward.
Lyria had informed Eric in the past that she was ready to create some 'masterpieces' and wished to put their signature on them. Of course, those would only be of High-Grade Tier 2, but those 'masterpieces' would be made with the best and most unique materials they had.
According to the knowledge they had obtained from books and Memory Orbs, Lyria's 'masterpieces' probably wouldn't easily break against a low-grade Tier 3—or perhaps even mid-grade Tier 3. Of course, they wouldn't survive long if clashes went on too long.
For those 'masterpieces,' Lyria planned to pour her heart and soul into making them. It took a lot more than just materials and enchantments to truly make amazing weapons, armor, and so on.
All of Lyria's previous products were gorgeous-looking and in a class of their own, so Eric was also looking forward to seeing those new masterpiece products.
Livy had also agreed to put her best Runes on these masterpieces.
Livy had become such an expert in Tier 1 and 2 Rune engraving that she had even inscribed Runes on arrows Lyria had made.
Inscribing Runes on arrows was far more difficult than putting them on daggers or self-bows—but Livy had succeeded!
Since they had too many Tier 1 and 2 resources to waste, she didn't hold back and put some sort of Rune on almost everything Lyria had made up to this day.
Livy even wanted to put Runes on Alchemy Bottles—which made absolutely no sense, as the contents inside wouldn't be influenced at all. So, Eric quickly protected his things and trashed Livy out of his precious fruit-juice room.
Lyria and Livy nodded eagerly.
They already felt their Mana control had improved and could improve further now with their increased stats. They could finally try out a few things they had postponed for a while.
All three of them then excitedly returned to their 'home' through the two-way Teleportation array.