Elementals

As the smoky substances solidified, three distinct figures appeared.

The red smoke solidified into the outline of a large bird with red feathers. The bird had the face of a golden pheasant, the body of a mandarin duck, wings of a crane, and tail of a peacock. Even though it had features of different types of birds, they matched each other well and the red aura coming from it gave it the feel of a royal being.

The blue smoke elongated and solidified into the outline of a long snake-like figure with azure scales. On its face, a white mustache flowed to both ends of its large jaws. Its dark blue eyes showed intelligence as it floated in the air with four limbs hanging down. At the end of each limb, four sharp claws protruded that seemed as if they were able to cut through steel easily. The blue aura that the azure dragon emitted was tranquil.

The final smoky substance condensed into the outline of a black crow. The crow's smoky dark black feather seemed emitted a majestic aura and seemed to be swallowing the small amount of light in the room. What was peculiar about the crow was that instead of two legs, it had three and it's golden eyes. Although it was much smaller than the bird and dragon, it stood in front of both as if they were deferring to it.

Azrael, seeing the three creatures that had appeared from the smoky substances was shocked. All three creatures radiated such power that it made even him, who had been hailed in his previous life as the devil, want to bow in deference. While he was debating over what to do, the voice he had heard earlier spoke again from the three-legged crow.

"Master, the three of us greet thee."

"…..What are you beings?"

"Let me introduce ourselves to thee, master. The humans in this world call us elementals. Bonghwang is a fire elemental and queen of all birds. Chunryong is a water elemental and the lord of the eastern seas. This servant is called Samjoko, darkness elemental. We three have come to finally introduce ourselves."

…Three elementals huh? All three of them seemed to be very high-level elementals. Even though Samjoko didn't give a title for itself, seeing the queen of all birds and lord of the east seas defer to it, the crow must be an even higher level elemental…. As Shil's mind was quickly digesting the shocking information that had been given to him, the azure dragon began to speak.

"Master, it has been thousands of years since any of us have found a human that has the right to rule over us. It brings us much joy that we have finally found you"

"…. What makes me qualified to be the master of you three majestic beings?"

Even though he was very glad to be the master of such elementals, ShI still couldn't tell why he was qualified to rule over them. Samjoko's answer, however, shocked him.

"Master, when we were searching for a new master, your mana's aura brought us to you. Even though I must say that I was still hesitant whether you were destined to be my master, when I touched a strand of your mana, I was able to see your past life. To be able to grow to such strength as mortal! Seeing that, I was convinced that you were destined to be this one's master, Shi devil. I believe that I speak for you Bonghwang and Chunryong?"

At Samjoko's question, both the bird and azure dragon nod their head. Azrael, however, did not pay attention to that as his mind was clouded by the mention of his previous life.

'Shi devil huh? It's been a while since I heard that title. Though I was hoping to put that behind me now, I guess the saying that you can't run from your past is true. Well, it brought these three elementals to me so I can't really complain. These three will assist me in growing stronger so that I can protect those I love this life… '

As he mused about this, he finally came to terms with everything and decided to accept it.

"Alright then. Bonghwang, Chunryong, Samjoko! Please treat me well."

"We pledge ourselves to master!"

The three elementals bowed their heads. Seeing such majestic beings bow toward him, Shi started having complicated feelings. Shaking it off, he decides to first find out more about these elementals.

"Samjoko, since I haven't been in this world for long, I do not know much about elementals. Could you please explain more about elementals to me?"

"Of course master. Beings that are known as elementals are creatures that the deities have built to rule over the elements. At first, we were supreme beings that ruled the world. No human or beast dared to defy us. Two hundred thousand years ago, however, a foolish light elemental dared to challenge one of the deities, thinking that he was supreme. Leading a band of his followers, they attempted to kill the deity and take over his place.

The deities, seeing this, became infuriated and destroyed them. The deity who had been challenged was in such a fury that he gathered the other deities and demanded that all elementals be eliminated. After the deities had argued for a century about it, they finally came to an agreement that even though the elementals would not be killed, they would lose their ability to generate mana.

Even though they did not outright kill us, this was a severe blow. To us elementals, mana was everything. We had become immortal and wielded the ability to manipulate our elements. With the loss of the ability to generate mana, many of the weaker elementals began to perish. The beasts also started to prey on us since elementals couldn't defend themselves anymore.

Humans, who were also struggling to protect themselves against the stronger beasts, came over to us to make a deal. Humans would provide mana to elementals in exchange for borrowing their powers. At this, the lords of all the elements had a meeting to discuss the terms. Even though the lords were all very prideful beings, they all agreed that without the mana that the humans could provide, all elementals would slowly perish and they would become extinct. Having no choice, the elemental lords agreed and thus a pact was made.

Elementals, though not having the capacity to create mana within themselves anymore, were very sensitive to the aura in newborns and were drawn to them. When an elemental finds a newborn with mana compatible with them, they will merge with them, assimilating with their body and mana. In exchange, humans will be able to use magic through them. In the beginning, the human will not be able to use magic or know of our existence as it takes a long time to assimilate with their mana. By the time the human has grown for six years, the elementals should have finished assimilating themselves. Once the assimilation is complete, the host will be able to pour mana into us and use magic. The elementals will also be able to take ethereal forms then. Through this agreement, elementals were able to guarantee their survival and humans gained the strength to fend off beasts."

While he listened to Samjoko's explanation, Shi remained silent and processed the information. He had always wondered why elementals bound themselves, humans when they had the ability to manipulate elements. Hearing the history though, the pieces seemed to click.

"So the reason I couldn't use mana was that you three were assimilating with it?"

"Correct master."

"I always thought it didn't make sense that I wasn't able to use my mana until the elementals appeared but now it makes sense…..Also, I learned that elementals have different ranks. What determines this?"

Bonghwang, with her feminine voice, answered.

"Master, not every elemental have the same strength. The older an elemental becomes and the higher affinity they have with their element determines an elemental's strength. Though I do not know of the rank system that humans have applied to us, you cannot compare even compare the strength of a spell by a human with a middle elemental and a human with a high elemental casting the same spell. The stronger an elemental is, the faster the human can cast a spell and the stronger it is. Also, elementals learn more spells the higher rank they become, which allows their human host to use them."

"Hm… that makes sense…Is there anything else I should know?"

"Master, at your level of strength, currently we are only able to assist you in casting spells. As your mana becomes larger and purer, however, we will be able to materialize in our original form and even a humanoid form."

As the conversation continued, Shi's body began to become heavy and tired from the depletion of his mana.

'So allowing these three to take ethereal form takes up a lot of mana huh? '

While Shi thought of this, he asked one final question.

"Now that you three have finished assimilating with my mana, do I have to summon you all in an ethereal form to speak with yall?"

"No master, now that we have finished assimilating, you will be able to mentally speak to us and we will be able to communicate this way."

"Okay then. It seems like my mana has almost been fully depleted. Dismiss yourselves for now. I will call upon you when required."

"Yes, master."

With that, Bonghwang, Chungryong, and Samjoko's bodies begun to shimmer and slowly faded. As they slowly disappeared, the strain on Shi's body also dissipated. Sighing, he stood up and headed toward his bed. While lying down, he contemplated what he had learned tonight.

'Hmmm…. Now that I can use magic, I should try to see if any of the spells I used in my old world will work here. I can finally start pouring mana into my muscles to make them stronger also.'

While planning for the future, fatigue slowly took over and he fell asleep.

The next morning, Shi went outside with his father to create a wooden training sword for him. At the weapon store, after visually confirming his length and size, the owner brought out a wooden sword that's length was perfect, albeit a little light. Byrael, satisfied with the sword after making Shi swing it a couple of times, handed over the money before going back home.

Currently, the two were outside in the backyard. Before beginning, Byrael gave his son a speech about swordsmanship.

"Alright, Shi, like you wished I will begin teaching you the way of the sword. Let me first start off by giving you this warning: The path of the sword is not an easy one. You will have to spend countless months just to get the basic down. Sometimes, it might become so tiring that you will want to quit but remember this! You are the eldest son of the Celeste family! The men of the Celeste family will never give up on anything they attempt! If you try your hardest and stay true to your sword, the sword will always stay true to you. Understand?"

"Yes, father!"

Hearing his determined response, Byrael nods his head in approval and then continues.

"Okay first off, we will begin from the basics. If you do not have a solid foundation for the basics, no matter how much effort you put into it, you will never be able to advance. Watch your father as I demonstrate the basics."