Hours pass.
I have my body double periodically dungeon walk back to the town to check on the energy readings to see if Maria has woken up from her rank-up process, but no signs of her completing it have come back.
Meanwhile, my method of sharing mana control with these recruits to boost their abilities is working very well.
Some of them still don't have the speed and raw power to kill level 400 monsters with Elite Level mana control just yet, but when working as a team, many of them are able to take these Berserker Giants down.
They rotate who gets the final strike to absorb MCP evenly. The millions of MP worth of progress after each kill is equal to training with an elemental skill for days or even weeks on end at their level.
However, they're managing to get this mana control experience without even having elemental skills. Plus, the rest times and built-up fatigue that is needed after normal mana control training is not necessary either.
My body double as well as me in my real body are constantly watching the battles unfold to block any fatal strikes before they happen and monitor everyone's progress.
I even switch my shared skill from absorption to mana manipulation a few times in order to let some slower learners get a feel for what mana shielding should look and feel like when they do it naturally.
Over 4 and a half hours pass since we started.
Maria still has not woken up from her rank-up process, meaning she's been unconscious for over double as long as the others were.
In this time, all recruits of the Flame Emperor's Army have made it to levels 400-410, and can defeat Berserker Giants with ease while using the combination of my shared mana control and their own. By constantly absorbing the MCP of monsters higher level than their own using my unique skill, they have all managed to bring their own mana control bases up to that of an Elite at the Association. They just don't know it yet.
I'm sure if they went in as teams of 3-5, they would be able to take on the 20th Floor boss now.
However, pushing them all up to high floors right now is not my next plan of action.
I deactivate my power share with everyone so they can feel what their own non-artificially buffed strength feels like.
"The final stage of your preparations will commence now. You will all hone your skills and get used to your new level of power."
I leave my body double with them to fight the Berserker Giants one on one. Now it is time for them to come up with their own unique ways of wielding mana control while fighting. It's not all about teamwork and getting EXP, they'll begin maximizing their mana density and efficiency to kill while fighting solo.
As my double informs them of this, and begins to spread out to find newly spawned Berserkers to train with, I motion for Luna to come over to me and show me what she's learned so far.
We don't travel far until I find a monster for her to show her skills.
Her speed, strength, and defense are on much higher levels than these low-level monsters, given that she's ranked up twice already. However, her mana control has progressed just like everyone else's and I watch her make simple mana barriers while imbuing her blades with mana as well.
The Qi in her core from Monk awakening her the other day stays dormant, it may be able to be used once her natural energy control increases over time.
"Good. I'll go get the others that show promise and move onto a private training session."
I fly back over to the groups of people fighting under the watch of my double and pick out the three element users that wield Fire, Wind, and Earth.
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"Rachel, Andy, Francis; come with me."
They follow my words and I immediately teleport them to the 30th floor near the outer edge of the mountainous forest section of the Wyvern's dungeon.
Everything in this dungeon is level 550 to 750. We've jumped up over 10 floors because I need to expedite their training.
An Earth Wyvern comes soaring down from the sky and I speak up, pointing at it.
"This is a ranked-up monster. Who is prepared to take it on first?"
They all stare at the creature summoning spears of earth around its body and dive bombing us at high speeds.
Only one of them steps up to my challenge without thinking twice.
It's the orange-haired woman named Rachel, she bursts into flames and points her sword coated in a thin layer of her own natural mana shielding at the monster that is clearly far superior to herself in pure strength and magic.
I share my absorption skill with her again, then activate my power-sharing perk as well, giving her exclusively 10% of my mana control.
As the ranked-up buff transfers it over, the flames around her grow larger while her mana control base is artificially boosted by far over a billion MP.
I take a step back and watch her swing her sword upward and slice the ranked-up Earth Wyvern in half before it touches the floor.
Her flames continue to expand, bursting out over 10 meters on all sides and glowing dark crimson, almost black.
Leveling notifications ring in her ears while she absorbs millions of MCP from a single kill.
The other team members standing by watch wide-eyed with excitement and awe, and our private training session begins.
One by one, I share this power with each of them so they can get their own kills and slowly work toward the center of the Wyvern Dungeon.
A full 2 hours pass of teleporting them around the ring to absorb hundreds of millions of MCP. The three squad leaders become much closer while fighting side by side, and Luna starts to talk with them a bit too.
Luna's mana control improves drastically, allowing her to contend with Wyverns without my help by the end of this training. The element users are capable of taking on the lower-level Wyverns by themselves too. I don't think they're capable of actually defeating the boss in this dungeon yet, not even as a team, but their progress has come very far.
All 3 of them manage to hit level 500 and rank up in no time.
The earth and wind users awaken ultimate abilities called [Fortress of Stone] and [Unbreakable Wind Prison] while the fire user awakens a unique offensive buff called [Fire Storm].
After I finally get them all just past level 600 so they can upgrade their elements to extreme grade, my body double blips in to tell me some news. Surprisingly, it isn't the double that was watching the other recruits train, it is the one that was farming and collapsing dungeons with Ember.
"It's Maria, she's waking up."
It blips away right after telling me.
At this, I wrap up our training and bring everyone back to the exit of the canyon of dungeons. They all begin walking back to the town on the pathway, and I leave Luna and the 3 squad leaders with my body double in charge of getting them food and necessary materials from a spare warehouse and to get some proper rest.
I fly over at max speed.
Surprisingly, I don't sense any mana or Qi coming from underground that isn't from the pods. However, I do sense two unexpected readings right outside the guildhall.
Once I get back, I see the double that warned me as well as Ember in his human form leaning up against the side of the octagonal building.
His long red hair flows in the light breeze before speaking up.
"I felt a Soul Energy awakening, so I decided to come and see the reveal myself. That is, as long as you're okay with your teammates seeing my true form. Soul Energy users are capable of seeing more than meets the eye."
He grins, and my heart starts to beat a bit faster while walking over to the bunker's hatch.
"That's fine. If they're strong enough to perceive you, they're ready to know the truth. If we'll be going all out in this war, it's better they find out sooner rather than later."
He responds again while we come to a halt above the door.
"Plus, we finished collapsing another dungeon, you have just enough containment stones to charge that last pod up for yourself if you wish."
I nod and open up the hatch.
"That's my plan. If you and Maria are strong enough to stand guard while I cultivate, I'll be entering the pod next."
Ember, my double, and I walk down into the waves of Qi and mana that flow out, I see Maria standing in the middle of the room looking down at her own body.
She slowly waves her hands around in the air and her eyes track their movements.
Ember stands beside me with his arms crossed and head continuously nodding while I try and use all of my perception skills to figure out what is going on.
Her hair is silkier, her skin is smoother, and it appears as if she's glowing with beauty. However, somehow she looks void of energy, just like the readings I get when I look at Ember. It's like a mana and Qi suppression technique is activated that makes it impossible for me to see any energy.
I do see a new buff on her status reading [Awakened Form of the Ice Goddess], but other than this, it's almost impossible for me to gauge her new strength. I speak up anyway.
"Welcome back. Over 6 hours awakening seems to have paid off. Your Qi mastery has reached a level I'm unable to detect..."
She nods while continuing to look at her own body with wide eyes. Her gaze doesn't move anywhere else for almost 30 seconds before looking up and replying.
"I have... This is–"
Her eyes halt on Ember and she stops speaking. She stares at him for equally as long, then turns to me.
"You're... Soul Bonded with a Dragon?"