Chapter 423:Earth.

Chapter 423: 423:Earth.

He continued deeper.

Earth came next and it nearly drove him insane. Atheline spent twelve days staring at mountains but nothing came. He meditated underground still nithing.

He buried himself up to the waist in soil. That accomplished nothing except making him question his intelligence. He manipulated stone, created walls,compressed earth into armor, and produced spikes but still nothing.

He stood in front of a mountain one afternoon and glared at it.

"What do you want?"

The mountain remained a mountain.

"You’ve watched me sit here for twelve days."

No response.

"I understand you’re old."

Silence.

"Strong?"

Nothing.

"Stable?"

The mountain refused to cooperate.

Atheline sighed.

"I liked Wind better."

A roar sounded behind him. He turned immediately turned only to be met by a giant ape standing among the trees, it’s arms covered in stone.

Atheline smiled.

"Finally."

The ape punched him.

He crossed his arms before it reached him. The impact launched him through three trees. He crashed into the mountain and slid down.

He coughed.

"That was rude."

The ape charged and Atheline met it. Earth covered his fist as their punches collided. The ground cracked from the sheer impact.

The battle became brutally physical. The ape repeatedly forced Atheline into direct confrontations. At first, he resisted, then he started enjoying it.

Atheline abandoned his bow temporarily choosing to cover his hands with earth. He punched, blocked, was thrown, and returned.

The mountain behind him absorbed every impact without caring which he noticed.

The ape struck again and he blocked, the ground beneath his feet cracking.

Atheline moved backward again. He wasn’t really thinking about strength since earth wasn’t simply strength.

The ape attacked.

He rooted his feet as he absorbed the impact. He moved to the side but he was wrong again.

The beast punched straight on his crossed arms and he fell. He stood, again ready to continue.

Hours passed of this fight. He managed to tear through his clothing and blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. The ape was bleeding too but neither stopped.

Then Atheline understood why the mountain had irritated him. Because it hadn’t done anything. While the other elements moved around in someway the earth simply remained.

Rain struck it, wind struck it, fire burned across it, and water carved through it for centuries but the mountain remained.

Atheline slowly stood.

"Foundation."

The ape charged at him. He planted one foot, earth Aether spreading beneath him. He felt stone, soil, roots, and bedrock.

He could almost feel the weight rhe entire mountain beneath him had.

The ape’s fist came prompting to rais his arm. The two collided in an explosive shockwave affecting the forest around them.

Atheline didn’t move despite how Impact full it had been. Surprisingly the else also didn’t move.

He smiled.

"Endurance."

The creature punched again but he remained where he was.

"Foundation and endurance."

Another punch.

Nothing.

He laughed.

The ape roared furiously.

"Sorry."

Atheline punched it. The creature flew backward and crashed through the forest.

He immediately retrieved his bow.

"I think we’ve learned enough from each other."

The ape apparently agreed. It stood, stared at him for several seconds and then turned away.

He smiled almost teasingly.

"You’re leaving?"

The ape disappeared between the trees.

Atheline lowered his bow.

"That’s new."

He didn’t chase it,not every battle needed a corpse at the end; instead, he sat against the mountain.

The realization came near the end of the fourth month.

For now, only Lightning remained. He closed his eyes as he tried to comprehend what on earth was going on. He could feel each comprehension separately.

Five tiny seeds.

Any one of them could probably occupy him for decades if he chose to pursue true mastery, but together they were changing something.

His core felt denser. His Aether circulation had become smoother. His control had increased enormously despite his actual amount of Aether not changing dramatically.

Most importantly, Atheline could now feel the boundary.

Sovereign.

Before, the rank had seemed like a distant wall. He’d known it existed because he’d encountered Sovereigns and absorbed memories from ancient ones, but he hadn’t understood what separated them from Mystics.

Now he did.

Authority.

A Mystic commanded an element using Aether while a Sovereign imposed understanding upon it.

He wasn’t there, not even close enough to pretend, but for the first time, he could see the road.

That night he slept beneath the mountain. The mysterious presence inside him woke him before dawn.

His eyes opened the moment his chest felt warm and immediately sat up.

"What now?"

A pulse answered. Atheline closed his eyes and examined his core; five elemental signatures moved around it, then there was the other thing.

It shifted.

For one impossible second, Atheline felt as though another core existed behind his own. He reached toward it with his consciousness but the presence disappeared.

Atheline’s eyes opened.

"What are you?"

Nothing answered.

He remained seated for several minutes, then he looked toward the sky. Dark clouds were gathering over the mountains.

He watched them.

A distant flash illuminated the horizon, then several seconds later, thunder rolled across the forest.

Atheline smiled.

"Perfect timing."

He stood and picked up his bow. Another flash crossed the distant clouds before thunder followed. He started walking toward the storm.

.

.

.

The storm lasted four days.

Atheline followed it for all four.

By that point in his training, he had learned not to assume that understanding an element would come simply because he placed himself somewhere surrounded by it.

He’d spent twelve days staring at mountains before Earth finally made sense to him, and he’d nearly burned his eyebrows off when Fire first responded to his comprehension. Lightning, unfortunately, seemed determined to compete with both.

The first night, he stood on the highest ridge he could find and watched lightning split the sky.

It was beautiful, violent and instantaneous.

A flash appeared somewhere among the clouds, and before his eyes could properly follow it, the discharge had already crossed an enormous distance.

Atheline raised one hand, lightning Aether crackling between his fingers. J̌He’d always been good with Lightning.

Not as good as Wind, but enough that it had become one of his preferred secondary elements whenever he needed overwhelming speed or destructive penetration.

That was exactly the problem.

"Speed."

Lightning crackled as though understanding what he was saying.

He frowned.

"Too obvious."

Thunder rolled over the mountains.

"Destruction?"

Nothing.

"Energy?"

Still nothing.

Atheline lowered his hand.

"You’re going to be annoying, aren’t you?"

Lightning struck a distant tree and the tree exploded. He stared at the burning remains.

"I’ll take that as a yes."

The following morning, he entered the storm. Wind carried him upward and clouds swallowed him.

Rain struck his face.

Atheline reinforced his body with Aether while allowing Wind to support his weight. Visibility disappeared almost completely, then Lightning flashed.

Atheline’s senses warned him before a bolt passed several meters away. The air exploded in statics. He was thrown sideways by the force.

He recovered.

"Again."

Another discharge. He followed it with his perception but still failed since it was too fast. He tried it again and again. By the end of the first day, Atheline had been struck twice.

Neither bolt was powerful enough to seriously injure a Peak Mystic, particularly one with Lightning affinity, but they still hurt.

By the third strike, he stopped pretending otherwise. Atheline dropped onto a mountain ledge smoking slightly.

He looked down at his arm.

"Perhaps standing inside thunderstorms wasn’t my best idea."

His hair was standing in several directions. He attempted to flatten it but static immediately lifted it again.

He sighed.

Lilith would enjoy this far too much. He remained on the ledge until his body recovered, then looked toward the storm.

Lightning appeared again before vanishing. It was sort of instant; that word remained in his mind.

Wind was movement but Wind moved continuously. Lightning didn’t feel that way; there was a beginning, then an end. The distance between them seemed almost irrelevant.

Atheline frowned.

"Instant."

He raised one hand and lightning gathered. It traveled from his palm to his fingertips.

He watched it carefully.

Speed wasn’t the entire truth, lightning was fast, certainly,but what fascinated him was how completely it committed to a path once that path existed.

Potential accumulated but difference grew. Then the discharge happened. He noticed there was no hesitation ir gradual transition; one state became another almost instantly.

Atheline thought fire, it transformed through consumption while lightning was closer to release. He learnt that potential becoming action.

He sat as he observed it.

Hours passed as the storm continued around him. He thought about everything he’d learned about elements but lightning...

Atheline opened his eyes as a bolt descended.

He raised his hand.

"Release."

Lightning struck him. For one impossible moment, he felt everything; the path, the difference in potential and the enormous accumulation of energy seeking somewhere to go.

The release was instantaneous as his Lightning Aether erupted. The natural bolt entered his body and immediately traveled through him.

He redirected it even when his body tried to absorb it and let it exit from his other hand. The summit exploded as the lightning struck a mountain.

Atheline remained standing, his eyes wide.

"That’s it." He smiled. "Speed is only what everyone sees."

Lightning crackled across his body as though acknowledging it.

"The truth happens before that."