Several calm days passed in silence, the stillness broken only by the occasional rippling of the water as Grey and the captain sailed across the Dead Sea, its corrosive depths stretching endlessly in every direction. The sea was ominously quiet, its dark waters holding a suffocating mystery beneath the surface. The captain, who had long discarded her previous disguise, was now in her true form—faint purple hair cascading over her delicate features, her eyes glowing with an otherworldly brilliance that had become a hallmark of her growing power.

During their time on the Dead Sea, the pair hardly encountered any of the legendary sea creatures known to inhabit these perilous waters. The few that did appear were swiftly dealt with by the captain, who seemed eager to test her newfound cultivation at the Foundation Establishment realm. Grey could only watch from the deck, a silent observer to the captain's demonstration of overwhelming power.

The captain's cultivation had clearly advanced by leaps and bounds, her confidence and strength radiating from her every action. One such encounter occurred when a massive sea lizard, twenty feet long and covered in thick, armor-like scales, emerged from the water. It was a Perfected Level Qi Accumulation creature, a formidable opponent in its own right. The captain, however, was unfazed. Her cold expression never wavered, but Grey could sense the flicker of excitement deep in her eyes. The storm brewing within her was not just one of power—it was a storm of exhilaration.

With a swift motion, she extended her index finger toward the heavens. Grey watched, transfixed, as dark clouds began to gather overhead, swirling with an unnatural energy. Without hesitation, the captain brought her finger down, pointing directly at the sea lizard. The moment her finger touched the air, a bolt of lightning, bright and blinding, struck the creature with terrifying precision. The impact reverberated through the sea, and an underwater cry echoed as the sea lizard writhed in agony.

More lightning followed in rapid succession, each bolt more powerful than the last, striking the sea lizard with unrelenting force. The creature, though powerful in its own right, was helpless against the sheer ferocity of the attack. The captain, in her calm detachment, continued to control the storm with a simple flick of her wrist, as if commanding nature itself. The sea lizard, already weakened by the relentless assault, finally succumbed to the onslaught. Its massive form sank beneath the waves, leaving behind only the charred remnants of what had once been a formidable predator.

Grey stood motionless on the deck, his eyes wide with awe. 'So this is the power of Foundation Establishment...' he thought. 'To be able to control the forces of nature with such ease, to command the very elements as though they were mere tools. The captain didn't even need to tap into her own physical strength—she only had to bend the world to her will, summoning lightning from the heavens to destroy her enemies.'

A sense of wonder filled Grey as he observed the captain's prowess. The damage she could inflict with such effortless control was staggering.

'Does this mean that when I break through, I'll be able to do something similar? he wondered. But no... the early stages of Foundation Establishment don't allow for such feats. You can manipulate the world to a small extent, but controlling the weather is beyond even most cultivators in the early stages. Only those in the middle or late stages can do that.:

Grey's thoughts became more tangled as he considered the captain's growth. 'But... if she had already formed her first Ball of Spirit Fire, it wouldn't be impossible to control the world like she did.' He recalled his earlier experiences with the Shadow Sect's ancestor, and the terrifying sight of the two balls of Spirit Fire circling around him—each one radiating an overwhelming pressure that left Grey unable to move. 'But... I don't sense that pressure from the captain. Not once has she released a ball of Spirit Fire, at least not in my presence.'

His mind raced as he tried to reconcile the captain's display of strength with the lack of such an aura. Could it be that her cultivation had progressed so quickly that she had reached the middle stage of Foundation Establishment without even releasing the telltale signs of Spirit Fire? Impossible. Grey couldn't bring himself to believe it. Just a few months ago, when the captain had first appeared as a slender youth, she had still been at the Perfected Qi Accumulation stage. To jump from that to the middle stages of Foundation Establishment in such a short period of time was beyond even his understanding.

'But still...' Grey mused '...her power is undeniable. Her control over the weather, the lightning strikes, her ability to call forth the very storm itself—these are not abilities that someone at the early stages of Foundation Establishment should possess. What's going on here?'

Grey felt a rising sense of unease as his thoughts turned inward. 'What if the captain decides to turn on me?' He couldn't shake the thought. The captain, despite their somewhat strange and unspoken bond, was still a wild card. She was powerful, unpredictable, and Grey had no way of knowing what her true intentions were. What if she had been hiding her true strength all along, just waiting for the right moment to strike?

He instinctively reached for the storage bag at his waist, where he kept his poisons and other tools—his hidden tricks, his trump cards. There was also his shadow, which had been upgraded recently, and could now be controlled with far more precision and flexibility than before. Grey frowned inwardly at the thought. He wasn't powerless. And he had Roxanne, a Divine Phoenix. Although she was in deep sleep, he was sure she would immediately awaken if she felt the Divine flames in his spirit sea suddenly turn chaotic and begin to run rampant. The phoenix's power at the Foundation Establishment level was immense, and Grey had no doubt that it would easily overpower any enemy that came his way.

'I don't have to be afraid.' He reassured himself. 'Yes, the captain is a significant threat, but I have my own hidden strengths. Besides, she's the captain, and I'm her co-captain in the Detective Agency of Sequence Three of Sky Mist Academy.

We may be rivals in some ways, but she's unlikely to attack me out of nowhere. I've seen her... strange, yes, but she's not reckless.'

Grey sighed, calming his mind. The captain, having finished her display of lightning and annihilated the sea lizard, was now casually placing its massive, charred corpse into her storage bag. The sea lizard's ten-ton body disappeared into the bag without a trace, leaving Grey to wonder just how such a feat was possible.

The captain dusted her hands off, looking pleased with herself, though there was a certain wild gleam in her eyes—one that made Grey shiver involuntarily. Crazy, he said inwardly, unable to suppress the thought.

'In other words, I should not be afraid of the captain, but instead be afraid of the secrets she is hiding and try not to prod into them.' Grey thought internally.

In this shattered and chaotic world, trust could easily be broken by slight misunderstandings. Although you had to be wary of constant threats and dangers, you also had to be wary of the people you keep close to you.

He was not in the wrong to doubt his trust in the captain. In the end, she was an outsider. He had already died two times after all, and Grey didn't want to check if he would be revived in another body if he died again.

After some thought, Grey decided to focus more on his current cultivation. He had noticed that his current speed of cultivation was quite slow. The captain had already advanced to Foundation Establishment realm, and he doubted the others would still be in low levels.

'My speed of cultivation is really quite slow. Can it even be called cultivation at all if it's this slow? Although the captain has her secrets, the speed at which she's advancing is still scary!'

Grey reviewed several reasons for why his speed could be so slow. But couldn't come up with any justifiable reason. In the end, he could only blame it on his body's constitution and work to get better.'

"Over the past two months, I've received information from Ange and the others about the Ongoing war between Sky Mist City and the Devil's race. Zaybe says that the war has waged on for over two months, and doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon. If we can get out of the Beserk Sea in time, we can still meet up with the war and claim some benefits for ourselves. Although my level is not too high, I've already advanced from the Seventh level to the eighth level, and I feel like I'm very close to the ninth level. Maybe this war could be the event that'll help me push my potential to the maximum and help me break through the barrier between the Ninth level and the Eighth level."Grey said in a low voice.

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