The next day Dyne awoke and noticed that there were strange changes in his chest area. The skin was turning red and started to have a strange glow. He could feel a peculiar hardness in his chest.
Dyne immediately closed his eyes again and realized that he could go back to sleep again. A task he was unable to do since forever.
He woke up half an hour later.
“Wow. That felt amazing. Why was I closing my eyes? Oh right! My chest!”
Realizing his initial intentions, Dyne began to observe the changes in his chest.
Just as Strafe said, his chest area changed because of Brimstone Heart. The changes even reached a bit near his neck area.
“Hey, Strafe. Is this dangerous?” Dyne asked.
“Not in the slightest. It’s just part of the process of changing your body. It will disappear soon if you cultivate it properly. But it may stay there for a while.” Strafe explained.
“Looks like I’ll have to look for a scarf of some sort to cover this.”
When Dyne moved out, Tetsu and Vahn were already cooking Ostriches that they killed earlier that day. They had already begun to follow Dyne’s teachings in the ways to cook it.
What was shocking was that Meta began to release a fiery attack, and together with Vahn, the two began to cook the ostrich meat.
Vahn was surprised as this was not something that Meta and Vahn could do in the game.
“Elemental Magic?” Dyne was startled.
“Hey, Strafe… This isn’t like in the game. Meta shouldn't be able to do that.” Dyne asked.
“Are you complaining?”
“Of course not. I’m just curious. Apart from certain things that would be impossible to do, you were pretty solid in trying to follow the rules of the game.”
“I did. Meta shouldn’t be able to do that. This is on you.” Strafe grumbled and didn’t reply at Dyne’s succeeding questions.
Finally, he turned to Meta.
“Meta… How are you doing this?” Dyne asked.
“Lord Dyne. I honestly don’t know… But since we started training and you would do that ability, you call the Imaginarium Art… I could somehow see strange visions. The more that I trained according to the teachings you’ve bestowed on Tetsu and Vahn, I somehow was able to draw out my soul energy and summon the flame with little help from Vahn.”
Dyne finally got his answer. The constant exposure to the Imaginarium Bond and how Dyne would reflect the memories of Elpida and Alos Vasilous caused Meta to tap into his memories.
“That’s awesome. It seems that you are now starting off to be a real cultivator, Meta.” Dyne chuckled.
“While your words honor me, I believe that being next Vahn will be my role as long as I live.”
“That’s what I meant. The two of you must grow stronger as one! It looks like I still have a long way to reach your level, now that you have new abilities.”
“I shall not lose to you, Lord Dyne.” Meta laughed.
The group ate, and Dyne asked Meta and Vahn what they were doing. Meta was using his Elemental Spirit Seed to create the energy, but Vahn was harnessing it. The two shared the burden. This was, of course, only possible because Vahn had also stepped into the ways of Soul Cultivation.
After the meal, Dyne gave his instructions.
“You two must take Calamity and train yourself through battle. Go west, towards the area where you found me. Take the Golden Compass and the Chicken King. I don’t know why… But I feel that the Basilisk will move here today. If you see it, immediately escape.”
“What about you, Lord Dyne?”
“I’ll meditate on the basement level. I doubt the Basilisk could sense me. I could even hide my presence when I was near him. And he was only able to detect me because of the budding Elemental Seed. If I sense the Basilisk nearby, I can send a message to Calamity to warn you.”
“Understood. Me and Vahn will continue our training regime. With the dishes you’ve been feeding us, I can begin to train Dyne in Bodily Cultivation.” Tetsu explained.
“That’s good. I might need a rain-check on that training. I’m too weak right now. The Elemental Spirit Seed is eating up my physical strength as it is looking for something to nourish it. I’d have to eat three times the amount you eat so I can have the energy to spare.” Dyne grumbled.
“With your skill in Soul Cultivation, you don’t need bodily strength.” Tetsu laughed as he left.
And so, the pair left with Calamity while Dyne stayed.
When the group finally left, Dyne went out and stood as he could see the Mist approach.
Strafe sighed.
“I knew you were planning this.” Strafe shook his head.
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“Complaining?”
“A little. But I hoped you would try this method. I don’t know how resilient your Element is to the madness that the Mist brings. But if you were able to convert a Gimard born in the Mist, then you should be capable of converting the Mist into something to fuel your Elemental Spirit Seed.”
This was also why Dyne wanted Tetsu and Vahn immediately to leave as he was risking becoming mad from the Mist.
When Dyne began to cultivate, the Mist’s power slowly seeped into his body. A great strange sense of decay could be felt.
“Death Energy… Let’s try this!” Dyne then began to focus on his Seed. It was slowly drawing energy in and began absorbing it.
But a few minutes later, Dyne stopped.
“Too much! The death energy is too much. I’d be closer to death because of this!” Dyne cursed as he stopped his attempt. The problem was that the Elemental Soul Seed was so close to the heart that it affected it. Dyne could sense a strange conflict occurring near his heart and realized that it was dangerous to continue.
“There are sects in the cultivation world that use this method to train. But as I expected. It's too hard for you. You are, after all, an Elemental cultivator of Life.”
“Is it regarding the Life and Death factions of the Elemental wheel thing you taught me?”
“Yes. Holy uses Life energy. Fire is largely dependent on it. Lightning slightly depends on Life energy. And then there is Entropy, which is the tipping point from Life to Neutral. If you are Brimstone, which is from Neutral Earth to Life, Entropy is something furthest from Life. It is closely related to Wind, which is the opposite of Earth.”
“Right. I kind of took a mental note of the Elemental wheel that you explained. So after Wind is an element that is the exact opposite of mine. I am from Neutral to pure Life. The opposite is Neutral to pure Death. Time and Space element, right?”
“Exactly. Since you are so close to Holy or Life energy, the Death energy of the Mist is something dangerous for you to cultivate. Too bad. I was hoping for a miracle.” Strafe laughed. A part of him was extremely happy. For the first time, Dyne was unable to make the impossible possible.
“So I can’t make my Seed stronger by absorbing the Mist… It’s sad… So I guess it’s time to move to the second-best training method.”
“What? Second best?” Strafe stopped and wondered what Dyne meant.
“You said it yourself. The reason why I was able to convert Grim was that I was Brimstone. I have always created soul energy that was a turning point from neutral to good, which is an important step. So I realized that I need to strengthen my control of the Elements. Also, Grim became Holy. And when Grim acquired this Element, I could feel that his Fire only grew stronger. So, I wondered…”
Strafe didn’t like what Dyne was implying. There were secrets to many elements that only a few cultivators knew. In Strafe’s cultivation world, only a very small percentage knew of this. And Dyne seemed to have gained a certain epiphany.
“Cultivators must cultivate to master their alignment, right? If they want to become stronger, learning it will help them. They have to chase the alignment. Wind must chase the Dark. Earth must chase the light. Why else did Grim and the Zenoir suddenly move to the Holy Element? They are Sprites in your world, so they seem to know something that can explain more about the mystery in Elemental affinity. In your cultivation world, I need to understand Holy to grow stronger just as how Grim was able to grow stronger.”
“Impressive. This simple concept is something that not everyone in our world knows. Amazingly, you figured this out.” Strafe answered. Secretly, he was marveling at Dyne’s wisdom.
“If this keeps up, Dyne ought to be able to surpass all Soul Cultivation principles that we know. I best refrain from guiding him too much and allow him to discover things which will help him in his cultivation.” Strafe thought to himself as he looked at Dyne who was in some form of meditation.
“Wait. It’s not that… It’s learning to bend your alignment. That’s it! Right now, I am a stepping stone from Neutral to Holy. I will definitely get stronger if I understand what Holy is.” Dyne smiled.
“You do need to understand Holy.”
“No. That’s not what I mean. Originally, I planned to use the Mist to threaten me to make me produce Holy forcibly. But now I realized it goes beyond that. I must teach my Elemental Spirit Seed to make itself take the step to Holy and not just be a stepping stone.” Dyne then closed his eyes.
The Mist slowly gathered once more.
But this time, there was something strange in Dyne’s state that shocked Strafe.
“Enlightenment? AGAIN? Can’t you just stick to the program that I made for you to follow? What the firmament will you learn now?!” Strafe cursed.
Dyne’s Elemental Spirit Seed shivered. The Brimstone energy released Earth and Fire… But now, another energy was being drawn out.
Dyne used the Mist to enter his body and surround the Elemental Spirit Seed. The threat caused the Elemental Spirit Seed to fight back, and there Dyne was able to see the Element that could fight the Mist.
It wasn’t the Earth energy, nor was it the Fire. But it was there. The invisible power that allowed Fire and Earth to merge.
“Ethereal and Corporeal. Earth and Fire. I see it now…” Dyne murmured even though he was in a state of Enlightenment.
“Enlightenment during Enlightenment? Is that even possible?! And how the firmament did he even guess the right terms?!” Strafe wanted to send a spirit blast to Dyne. He wanted to just smack the genius out of the monstrosity that is Dyne.
Ethereal and Corporeal was a term only known by those who have studied and found the secrets of Elements. And for some reason, Dyne figured it out.
In between corporeal Earth and Ethereal Fire was the energy known as Life. Harnessing it produces the Element called….
“Holy!” Dyne held his two arms towards his chest as if trying to pull out the energy locked within.
White energy appeared. It had the same color that Dyne could get from killing monsters. Their life energy. Dyne was drawing out and controlling his Life energy and found a way to harness it.
The Holy energy fought the maddening Mist.
“He did it! Did he learn Holy? How!? He hasn’t even learned how to control Brimstone!” In the Spirit world, Strafe was biting his spirit foot as he cursed.