"Rumble." On the vast sea surface, waves hundreds of meters high were lifted up by an invisible big hand, carrying tens of thousands of tons of seawater and crashing towards the island.

  "Humph." Kles Nor snorted angrily. The huge waves seemed to have hit a high mountain and shattered into countless pieces, scattering down one after another.

  Although he managed to defuse this attack, Kles Nor didn't feel good either. A flash of red light appeared on his face, indicating that he had already suffered a minor injury. Moreover, there were bursts of explosions around him, and countless mud and sand were flying everywhere.

  "Giggle, Kles Nor, you're too kind." Vinia continued to point with her fingers, and immediately two waves rose on the sea surface, carrying her and Chen Yue and sending them to the beach.

  "We haven't seen each other for years, yet your temper is still as hot as ever."

  Compared to Vinia's beaming face, Kles Nor looked much gloomier. He had originally intended to give Vinia a warning, but unexpectedly, he suffered a setback and instead let her gain the upper hand. Naturally, his face didn't look good.

  He sullenly waved his hand and ordered the familiar spirit to send West and the others over as well.

  "Vinia, did you come to my training base this time just to train him?" Kles Nor glanced at Chen Yue, and a strange look flashed in his eyes. Chen Yue's performance just now had left a deep impression on him. Besides, Chen Yue had played a significant role in his defeat.

  Vinia nodded.

  "Chen Yue pays his respects to the deacon, sir." Chen Yue saluted neither obsequiously nor arrogantly.

  "You have quite a good eye." Kles Nor nodded somewhat gloomily and said, "You can use the equipment in the base as you like. I'll grant you access rights. It's getting late today. I'll leave first. If you have anything, you can come to the core area to find me."

  After saying that, he left with West and the others without any hesitation.

  He was in such a hurry as if there were wolves chasing after him.

  Chen Yue looked up at the scorching sun that hadn't reached its midpoint yet and shook his head speechlessly. This old guy couldn't even come up with a better excuse.

  Obviously, he had lost to Vinia and felt that he had lost face and couldn't bear to stay any longer.

  However, recalling the hidden battle just now, Chen Yue also felt dazzled. This was the might of high-rank apostles. Indeed, both Vinia and Kles Nor had earth-shattering means, and their fighting styles were beyond his expectations.

  Originally, Chen Yue had always thought that apostles fought by relying on their familiar spirits, which was rather monotonous and boring. This could also be seen from the performance of West and the others before. He almost solely relied on his familiar spirit, and Kina was even more vulnerable.

  However, the battle between Vinia and Kles Nor overturned his understanding.

  Only then did Chen Yue realize how one-sided and superficial his understanding of apostles was.

  Although he still couldn't fully understand it, there was no doubt that the scene of Vinia transforming her arm into a water arm had left a deep impression on him. It made Chen Yue have some insights, yet he couldn't quite grasp them, just like looking at flowers in the fog.

  Realizing that his vision and strength were far from enough, Chen Yue immediately put it aside. Just as he was about to ask Vinia about the next arrangements, he found that she was trying hard to hold back her laughter until her face turned red.

  Several question marks popped up in Chen Yue's mind, and he quickly checked himself but didn't find anything funny.

  Seeing his puzzled look, Vinia couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing with her shoulders shaking continuously. Judging from her appearance, if it weren't for Chen Yue's presence, she might have laughed so hard that she would have fallen to the ground.

  Chen Yue was extremely confused and followed her gaze. When he saw clearly what she was laughing at, he almost fell headlong onto the beach. However, looking in the direction where Kles Nor and the others had left, his expression became extremely strange.

  "Damn it. It's just one win. What's so funny?" Kles Nor, who hadn't gone far yet, muttered to himself when he heard Vinia's rather unrestrained laughter.

  West and the others looked at each other in confusion, also full of questions. Only when they saw the extremely strange smiles of Chen Yue and Vinia did they start to feel uneasy all over. They immediately checked themselves but didn't find anything wrong. Finally, after focusing their attention on Kles Nor, their expressions also became strange.

  They seemed to want to laugh but didn't dare to at all and could only try their best to hold it back.

  West twitched his handsome face and said, "Teacher Kles Nor."

  Kles Nor wondered, "West, what's wrong with you? Is your face twitching?"

  West twitched even more severely after hearing this. He carefully pointed behind Kles Nor and said, "Behind you."

  "Behind me?" Seeing that everyone around had such expressions, Kles Nor immediately felt something was wrong and hurriedly turned his head to look behind. With just one glance, he almost fainted on the spot.

  Today, he was wearing an extremely white and spotless robe. But at this moment, there was a lump of yellow mud sticking to the buttocks area of his robe, which was extremely conspicuous on the snow-white robe.

  The position was rather ingenious, neither too high nor too low, making people have an extremely evil association at first glance.

  Kles Nor's face turned as red as a monkey's butt. He couldn't bear to stay any longer and didn't care about West and the others. With a stomp of his foot, he disappeared on the spot.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Seeing his embarrassed appearance, Vinia laughed even louder. The long-suppressed gloomy mood was swept away, and she felt extremely carefree.

  That mud was naturally her doing. At that time, Kles Nor was fully occupied with dealing with her attack and had no time to take care of other things. Since their strengths were comparable and she had taken advantage of his inattentiveness, it was natural for her to succeed easily.

  Vinia had a big smile on her face and said, "Kles Nor won't be able to hold his head up again for two or three hundred years."

  Looking at her, Chen Yue shivered and couldn't help thinking of the saying: "The most venomous woman's heart."

  ...

  The next day, in Training Room No. 1.

  Vinia and Chen Yue sat facing each other. There were only the two of them in the spacious training room. West and the others had gone to other training rooms. Anyway, the training base was very large, and the number of apostles eligible to come to this training base was small, so there was no need to worry about it being crowded.

  As for the fact that the highest-quality Training Room No. 1 was occupied by others, in the absence of Kles Nor's intervention, although West and the others were dissatisfied, they could only reluctantly accept the fact.

  Next, it was time for the second step of the basic training.

  The first step of the basic training was to perceive the Source of Life. Then, the second step was to figure out how to strengthen the Source of Life.

  The Source of Life, as the power source of apostles, was the most important part. Apostles spent most of their lives strengthening it.

  "Since you perceived the Source of Life, I didn't rush to conduct the next step of training but just let you keep perceiving it. I think you already know why." Vinia said slowly.

  Chen Yue nodded and said, "Yes, mentor. Every time I perceive it, I can feel the increase in the Source of Life and the Source Space."

  Vinia nodded with satisfaction and said, "Your feeling is correct. This is a way to strengthen the Source of Life, but it's also the least efficient one. Because it's very difficult to perceive the Source of Life. Even for a high-rank apostle like me, I can succeed at most five times out of ten attempts. Therefore, this method is not advisable and can only be regarded as secondary."

  Chen Yue opened his mouth but finally didn't say anything. He was just extremely shocked in his heart.

  Even high-rank apostles could only succeed five times out of ten perceptions, with a 50% success rate. Then, what was his 100% success rate?

  He couldn't tell anyone. These secrets couldn't be told to anyone. In just a moment, Chen Yue made up his mind. If other apostles really knew about it, they would probably go crazy with jealousy.

  Not noticing Chen Yue's abnormality, Vinia continued, "The best means is the familiar spirit."

  "For apostles, the familiar spirit is their avatar. The familiar spirits coming down from the Spirit Realm all possess extremely vast Sources of Life. Whenever an apostle is on the verge of life and death, they can transfer the life force from the Source of Life of the familiar spirit to their own Source of Life. I think you should be able to understand this."

  Chen Yue showed an understanding look. The high-altitude extreme training was still fresh in his memory. Closing his eyes, he could almost feel a warm current flowing into his body. That was precisely the life force from the familiar spirit.

  Although it was external life force, due to the relationship between the familiar spirit and the apostle, it could be absorbed by the apostle's Source of Life. Of course, it was hard to say how much could be transformed.

  This means was indeed much more effective, but it was impossible to put oneself on the verge of life and death every time when cultivating the Source of Life.

  That state was like dancing on the tip of a knife. If something went wrong, one would really die.

  Moreover, not every time when one was on the verge of life and death could the life force of the familiar spirit be activated for rescue. Although Chen Yue could achieve a success rate of over 90%, other apostles were far from being able to reach this level. Naturally, there were other ways.

  Sure enough, Vinia went on to say, "The only way is to perceive the Source of Life of the familiar spirit and incorporate them into your Source Space. In this way, the Sources of Life of the familiar spirit and the apostle can form an energy channel and keep strengthening all the time."

  Chen Yue was stunned. The second step of the training actually required perceiving the Source of Life of the familiar spirit. This seemed a bit inconceivable. After all, most people could only perceive themselves at most. However, thinking of the relationship between apostles and familiar spirits, he felt relieved.

  It's just like everyone has a vault. To open it, a series of complicated procedures such as DNA verification, cornea verification, and fingerprint verification are required. Although one may envy others' vaults, one can only open one's own and has no chance to get involved in others'.

  However, the familiar spirit is different. It can be said to be the avatar of the apostle, just like your son. Although you may envy others' vaults but can't get them, if your son dares to hide a vault under your nose, a slap will make sure that he hands it over obediently.

  ...

  "Do you understand?" Vinia asked somewhat uneasily. Most apostles would be confused when they first came into contact with this knowledge.

  "Yes, I understand." Chen Yue nodded firmly. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Mentor Vinia, does every apostle have to achieve this step in the basic training?"

  If every apostle's basic training had to reach this point, then the abilities of first-order apostles should be quite remarkable. However, from Kina and Par, Chen Yue clearly didn't see this. Even Par couldn't control his own familiar spirit steadily, which was even more unreasonable.

  "Well, um..." Vinia blushed and stammered a bit. Actually, it was enough for the basic training to just perceive the Source of Life. However, Chen Yue had constantly surprised her, which made her excited and involuntarily raise her expectations.

  Still, this should be the most suitable training for him.

  "This is actually the training for second-order apostles and above. But I think you can adapt to it."

  Chen Yue tried hard to resist the urge to roll his eyes. Second-order and above? He had just barely started with the first-order.

  Seeing his unfriendly expression, Vinia added temptingly, "If you can succeed, the benefits to you will be far beyond your imagination. When you are at the critical moment of advancing to a higher rank and the Source Space and the Source of Life stop growing, the Source of Life of the familiar spirit can help you break through the barrier faster and more safely. Eh, what's wrong with you? Your face looks so strange."

  Chen Yue swallowed with difficulty and asked somewhat unbelievingly, "Mentor, are you saying that when the Source Space and the Source of Life stop growing, it means that you are already at the critical moment of advancing to a higher rank?"

  Vinia nodded extremely affirmatively and said, "Apart from advancing to a higher rank, apostles won't encounter such a bottleneck. By the way, why are you asking this? I must remind you that you've just started. It's a bit too early to think about these things..."

  "But..." Chen Yue interrupted Vinia's admonition extremely distressedly and said, "Mentor Vinia, I, I seem to be at the bottleneck already."

  Vinia: "..."