Welcome new and old, I kinda dislike being in the top 5 for views, as it means that all the people with overpowered opinions come in. All I can say is take care of me. Although its not perfect I am trying my best. Thank you in advance.

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As Owen stepped into the water everyone else started to follow suit. One by one people started to take off their robes and heavier clothing or weapons. Owen and Rauf had already removed their short sword and snake sword respectively. Their outer robes were also taken off leaving only a thin shirt and their pants left. Although these would cause them to be slightly heavier in the water, without knowing what was inside the lake they didn’t wish to take their clothes fully off.

Although the woman were also taking off their clothes, the men only gave slight glances or looked from the corner of their eyes. They enjoyed the idea of stripping women, but after the previous days occurrences they were more afraid for their lives. However this was truthfully the wrong way to approach it. The sins didn’t exist to prevent Pathwalkers from having desires it was to purify their bodies and souls. Only by purifying one’s self could they eventually reach the top. Not only was it too early for these beginner Pathwalkers to know this, they were already afraid of any slight repercussions from the sins.

Rauf faced towards Owen and spoke silently so only Owen could hear.

“What do you think is going to happen? I know that that Keeper said that this is the Wave Lake, but they can’t seriously think a few waves would hinder us do they?”

Owen brought his finger to his chin, thinking about the situation clearly. The words from Balan truly weren’t clear enough to make a definite guess but one could infer that the waves would simply be scarier than they could imagine. As the Pathwalkers continued to walk in the water had already reached their waists. The ice pillar until now hadn’t moved but now that the water was deep enough and everyone was 10 meters inside the lake running away wouldn’t be easy but it wasn’t far enough to say it was difficult either.

‘Looks like it is about to start.’

Owen thought to himself. As he saw through the Blind Motion technique he noticed that the water around the ice pillar was turning increasingly darker blue. In a perfect circle it was starting to spread out towards the outside. Not only was the Essence similar to a ripple effect even the water itself started to ripple.

“Look! The water is starting to ripple.”

One man called out excitedly. This man was impatient and already moved 15 meters inside the lake where everyone else stopped at 10 or were only moving ever so slowly inwards. The distance they had to cover was 500 meters to the center, if they rushed there was no telling what could happen. As the ripple finally reached the man his face suddenly paled, the once previous water started to turn into ice fragments onto his body. Owen watched as the dark blue Essence crawl up that man’s body. It wasn’t noticeable at first but the ice fragments turned larger and started to join with other other water droplets. Because liquid would cover a larger area when the ice was being formed it was instead shrinking, but at the same time it was shrinking it was freezing the skin of the man causing his skin to rip as it was stretched along with the shrinking of the ice.

“Ah!”

The man screamed, no one else was affected by the ice and it seemed at the 10 meter point was when the ripples effects would dissipate. All the Pathwalkers turned to face the man they were bewildered at the ice fragments. Owen on the other hand only frowned.

‘Clearly this isn’t going to be as easy as we thought.’

Although Owen felt this would be incredibly difficult he couldn’t stop here. He concentrated and allowed the Essence in his body to flow outwards and create a thin shell around his body. Rauf noticed what Owen was doing and although he didn’t know as much as Owen, he was smart enough to be able to tell that Owen figured something out. Likewise other Pathwalkers followed suit only slightly slower than Rauf’s reaction.

Balan who was watching the scene let out a ‘ho’ as he inwardly thought to himself.

‘Truly that boy might be too smart for his own good. Because everyone follows his actions, less people are harmed in the long run. The most terrifying part is that boy doesn't even realize people are looking towards him.’

This was true, although Owen could see the impure colours of the Pathwalkers, and he could rely on sound, it stopped at a point. If someone only looked at him from afar or gazed at him without turning their heads he wouldn’t know anything. Now that Owen had some sort of protection towards the light rippling effect, he made his first step past the 10 meter point. The ice pillar reacted and the Essence gathered within the water started to ripple outwards once again. Owen thinking it was going to be the same strength frowned as he noticed the Essence gathered this time was much stronger.

‘Looks like the first ripple is just a warning.’

Owen gathered more Essence within his body. The amount of Essence available for usage depended entirely on one’s control of it. If the Pathwalkers wanted to block more Essence they needs to have a finer control of it. Although there was still limits to this, only Opal stage Pathwalkers would be able to block others. Their body strength didn’t play a part in their control of Essence, but the purity of the Essence did. This was why no matter what an Opal stage would never be able to block a higher ranked stage. Within a few moments the ripple finally struck the bodies of the Pathwalkers.