After Eric calmed down, he turned toward a corner of his room and wanted to stand there—and similarly, he was teleported there.
He then closed his eyes to differentiate between walking and teleporting. Otherwise, if he just kept teleporting, it would become more of a nuisance.
After a while, he nodded to himself and took a step forward while still closing his eyes, then started walking around his room.
After a few more experiments, he figured out how to use—or in a sense, 'activate'—teleportation and not use it randomly.
He then went outside, toward the beach, to do a few more experiments.
After a while, he figured out quite a few things about this ability.
First, this was something in between teleportation and walking. Unlike how he could use arrays to travel to a fixed location, this ability was more like walking but instantaneous. With his teleportation, he could go anywhere—but within a set, limited distance.
After a thorough experiment, he was shocked to find that he could actually teleport nearly 50 meters!
He was speechless and didn't know whether to feel excited or fear it.
He decided to call this ability 'Blink', as it only took him a blink of an eye to move from one location to another. In fact, it was far faster than blinking. Rather than giving it a name like 'Instantaneous Movement' or 'Teleportation', he preferred the simple Blink.
Second, he didn't really need to 'look' to Blink. He could blink within the set distance from his location, but that place had to support his entire body—in other words, he couldn't blink inside a tree or any blocked space.
Also, to blink successfully, he needed a clear area. He couldn't blink beyond a wall, but he could blink behind a tree if he could 'see' from its sides that there was empty space. If he couldn't see, he couldn't Blink. In short, he couldn't blindly blink inside a forest.
If it was a clear area, he could blink even without looking around.
Third, he didn't really need to imagine anything to use Blink. Just with a thought or intent, he could travel to that location—but if he wished to be in a certain posture after teleporting, he needed to give extra thought before Blinking.
Fourth, he could actually take objects with him during Blinking, just like his clothes. Though he was still uncertain if he could take another living person with him—that would require more experimenting—but he had a feeling that he could.
And finally, the scariest aspect: he felt that Blink could improve or level up!
He had checked this feeling multiple times and finally understood that instead of gradually making progress, it would be like a direct leap—so 'Level Up' felt more like the right term.
After figuring this out, he was greatly astonished.
Blink was already amazing—yet it could improve! This was mind-blowing and, at the same time, terrifying—though currently, he had no idea how to level it up. He'd give it more thought later.
Overall, Blink felt like the perfect ability for an evil person like himself.
Eric lay on the white sand and laughed—not the previous manic laughter, but a very satisfying one.
Riya smiled and reminded him, "Eric, you better not use this ability in front of random people, or else they might kill you out of jealousy."
Eric chuckled. "I'm not that stupid, but thanks for the reminder. Maybe I should create some artifact as a distraction—make people believe I only achieved this because of a toy."
"Hm..." She nodded in agreement. "You finally succeeded in achieving your desire to use the Space Element to teleport. I personally can't see how it works. Tell me your honest thoughts—or if you have any instinctive feelings about it. Chances are, they're correct."
Eric pondered deeply.
He hadn't really observed this new ability closely—he'd been too excited—but now that Riya reminded him, he felt he needed to understand how it worked or where it came from.
So he closed his eyes—and after a moment, helplessly opened them again.
He couldn't see his Mana Body, so he couldn't judge anything accurately.
After some more thought, he said with a weird expression, "I've had this feeling for a while—that because I wanted to teleport, I obtained this ability. It's surreal. I'm not sure if that's how it works."
He'd wanted to teleport with his Space Element ever since using the Teleportation Stone to arrive at the Heart-Shaped Island, but since it was nearly impossible without a spell, he'd left it for the future.
Riya offered her thoughts. "If that's how you feel, then instead of a gift or achievement, I'd say it's better to understand this second training breakthrough 'ability' as an evolution—like a monkey evolving into a human. Either way, there are more breakthroughs, so you may gain more clarity after breaking through."
Eric's eyes shone with anticipation. He wondered if he could obtain more new abilities. It didn't need to be as badass as Blink—as long as it was practical and could be a trump card to bully innocent good people, it was good.
Beyond that, Riya's words struck him deeply. He felt she was completely correct—this was an evolution of him, specifically for 'him'.
He didn't know if others had 'evolved' with a similar ability, but he felt this was unique to him—like watching himself evolve from a fish to an amphibian. It felt like growing a new limb.
"Anything else?" Riya asked.
Eric stared at the clear blue sky, then shook his head. "You've already heard my conclusions. The weirdest is that Blink can improve—how, I'm not sure."
Riya nodded stiffly.
She, too, was most shocked by this aspect. If Blink could level up, would it become long-distance teleportation? Would Eric even need spells?
She felt it was better not to think about it now and agreed with Eric. "If you called it an 'arm,' you might not be wrong—an arm can be trained to lift more weight, after all."
Eric agreed and stood up.
After stretching and dusting himself off, he headed back toward the cave.
"I wonder if Ly and Liv will have the same Intelligence trial requirement," he muttered with anticipation.
If so, they could pass in a jiffy—and he could see what they gained.
Riya's eyes lit up too. She wanted to see if Lyria or Livy would awaken or evolve with new abilities. That would clarify these evolved powers—and increase the chances that all second training breakthroughs granted abilities. Or maybe it was just Intelligence stat breakthroughs?
She was dying of curiosity.
"We'll see. Let's help them reach 50 first."
"Hm..." Eric agreed and went toward the first room—the Blacksmith room. He needed to gather the girls first.
By now, Eric felt Lysandra had forgotten about them—and was no longer peeping like a pervert.
------
Eric sat on his couch while Lyria and Livy sat opposite him on theirs.
In the end, Eric used the two-way Teleportation Array to reach the training island.
Though he doubted Lysandra was peeping, since they'd be discussing intimate matters, caution was wise.
Eric turned to the always-smiling girls and grinned back. "I have great news—but first, I want both of you to reach the peak to check the requirements. Who wants to go first?"
Lyria and Livy immediately glared at each other.
Finally, Lyria acted like a big sister and yielded to Livy.
Livy didn't dawdle—she was still far behind her initial goal of using Water Jet cutting with her Element. Though she'd improved slightly, she still couldn't cut anything useful—just waste her own Mana.
She desperately wanted to increase her Intelligence. She knew it might not guarantee success, but she had to try. She wouldn't rest until she fulfilled this dream—and Eric's expectations. She refused to disappoint him.
So Livy quickly nodded, volunteering to be the first subject.
Eric took out several alchemy bottles and told Livy to indulge as he placed his hand on her back.
Riya got to work manipulating Eric's Mana, converting the alchemy products into unused points.
If Riya actively transferred the potion effects into energy, the person wouldn't suffer from side effects—and it was the fastest way to gain unused points. This was crucial at higher stat levels, where even a single point was hard to earn.
Thanks to their increased Constitution, the three idiots no longer suffered from overfeeding—and their phobia of alchemy bottles had lessened.
Within a few hours, Livy had 4 unused points—and Riya promptly boosted all her stats to peak 50.
As Riya calculated, Eric told Lyria to prepare—she'd be next—then entered his Mind Space to review Livy's medical report.
After a while, the results appeared—and while examining them, he was speechless and jealous.
Livy had two stat requirements similar to his: raise Agility and Intelligence to permanent '10' within 12 hours. The others were also the same—a full-body massage under deep-sea pressure.
In short, Livy could gain two skills back-to-back upon reaching mid-stage Rank 1!
He was excited to see her breakthrough results—hopefully abilities.
After opening his eyes, he informed both of them of Livy's requirements—but didn't inform them of the possible 'ability' as he was unsure. He didn't want to raise their expectations only to disappoint them later. Bonus stats weren't bad either.
Livy got to work immediately.
After an hour, she broke through while experiencing the changes inside her body.
All her stats increased by 30—not much, but better than nothing.
After relaxing from successfully breaking through to mid-stage Rank 1, she was lost for a brief moment, then frowned deeply.
Only after a while did she open her eyes with a lost expression.