Chapter 32

Alex waited on the side of the road for Taylor. He looked at the white fence, and freshly cut grass, the two-story houses, and garages connected to them.

'I always feel uneasy walking through these neighborhoods. They always look inviting and friendly but giving off the opposite vibes. Even more so, now that I can see the old lady and her husband that keep peeping through the curtains at me.' He turned.

'So many people ready to call the guards on me, just for standing here. Maybe I should have just hidden.'

"Hey Alex, I'm back let's get rolling." He said before noticing the somber look on his friend's face that quickly faded. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just got bored. Come on let's get going." Alex said, throwing his worries to the side.

'I've got more important things to spend my time on rather than worrying about public opinion. They've never liked me anyway.'

They quickly arrived at Alex's house.

"I'll be back soon." Alex said before going inside.

He opened the door.

"You're actually here on time." His mother said when he stepped in.

"I've only been late once and that one time was yesterday mom. I'm gonna go to bed early tonight I've got a lot of work to do tomorrow." He said while grabbing the trash that was full and taking it outside. He tossed it into the garbage can and went back in.

Luckily his mother had already lost interest and he would be able to leave quickly. He went to his room and locked the door, he even went as far as putting the heavy box in front of it because even if it was locked his mother just barges in anyway.

Alex looked up at his soot-stained ceiling, then over to his candles he would have cleaned it long ago, but whenever he saw them they reminded him of when he sat here every day and trained. He sighed before teleporting outside.

"Why didn't you just go through the front door?" Taylor asked as Alex walked around from the side of the building. "And why did you take out the trash yourself."

Alex thought for a moment before answering with an answer that would fulfill both questions. "Because I don't have a butler. Come on let's go we don't have much time." He said while looking at the setting sun.

"I forgot to ask you this but how good are you at controlling light energy when it is outside of you." Alex said opening a portal once they entered the forest.

"Just as good as you with your dark affinity I guess. It's just that it is practically useless and has no power behind it, so I see no reason to do so. Why do you ask?"

"I'll tell you when we get to the secret base." Alex said.

"Secret base? Are you some kind of spy?"

"No, I'm 14. How can kids our ages even be a spy." Alex asked wondering if such a thing is possible.

"I don't know but Daniel keeps on saying that the strongest element is the element of surprise. Heck, I'd expect a five-year-old to be a spy if he dragged me off into the woods saying he was taking me to a secret base."

"Ohhh, yeahhh. You're definitely right this does have some creepy connotations. It's just a cave that I found yesterday, I've installed lighting into it so it's cozy enough." Alex said skimming over the fact that you needed to be able to fly in order to get in safely, and the fact that it had some ancient artifacts.

"We're close." Alex said as he noticed the scenery becoming familiar.

After a few more portal jumps he stopped as he found the entrance of the cave. "I'm gonna need you to gather up some sunlight and hold onto it as long as you can." Alex said while turning his flashlight on.

Taylor gathered some light as it formed into a yellowish ball of light.

Alex's phone began to float above the ball. "Will this help you save energy in the darkness?"

"Darkness? I thought you said you added some lighting."

"I did it's at the end of the cave. So, will it?" Alex asked Taylor.

"Of course it will, even if it's only light generated by regular mana."

"Good, let's go I'll open some portals to make the trip easier for you." He said while putting the dirt back in place and opening a portal directly into the cave.

The two walked through.

"Why are there so many bugs?" Taylor asked as the dim light from Alex's phone illuminated them.

"Because it's a cave." Alex asked as he opened the last portal.

"Hey, I think I should tell you that this ball of light is still shrinking. I'm literally holding onto it but somehow the light is leaking out. Taylor said after noticing the problem.

"You'll be fine, if my experiment works then you won't need to worry about holding onto it for long. Now don't resist my spacial energy I'm gonna lower us to the bottom of the cave."

"Bottom? I thought we were at the bott…" Taylor stopped speaking as Alex lifted a large stone from the floor. When Taylor looked down he saw a lit-up area several hundred feet below him. His legs felt weakened as he kept looking down.

"Why didn't you tell me that there was only a few feet of rock separating me from that far of a fall?" Taylor asked Alex.

"You didn't ask." Alex said with a shrug as he enveloped them both with his energy.

"Huh? How was I supposed to know that I should ask that?" Taylor asked not realizing he was now floating several hundred feet in the air.

"It's the first thing taught to you in geology class." Alex joked.

"It is?" Taylor said before thinking back to a few years ago.

"You liar. It was something about rocks, not questions you should ask in caves." He said as he landed. Taylor shivered as he noticed the light that was previously below him was now in front of him.

"Okay, now it's time to test this." Alex said before surrounding the ball of light with spacial energy. "I'm about to cut off your control so be ready."

Taylor nodded.

Alex increased the amount of energy surrounding the sphere as he prepared to lock it in place. "Doing it now." He said as he locked space around the light cutting Taylor's control. Alex's energy was immediately attacked as the light began bouncing countless times within the sphere. However they couldn't see any light with their bare eyes, rather they saw a perfectly white sphere.

Alex began filling the sphere before locking the center in place. Alex was shocked as he saw a familiar sight. The light particles that were slowed to a stop, looked exactly as they did in the spacial dimension.

Alex created a highly concentrated sensor like the first time he had created a halo, and just like before the light particles were able to move freely.

'I can't lock space and sense stuff in the same area. At first, I thought I had failed at keeping the dark particles frozen, but with the light particles it is much easier to see that they were indeed not moving until I activated the sensor.' Alex thought as he began pushing the air molecules out of the sphere.

'The air is so much cleaner down here.' Alex noted.

He began compressing the light so that he could see it more clearly. 'It's much more difficult when you don't have an affinity to help you.'

Taylor was captivated by what he was seeing. 'Does this mean that I wasn't keeping the light in place, but keeping it at bay instead?'

The majority of the particles were frozen in place, but in the center, they were once again bouncing around making for a crazy-looking sight.

Taylor's eyes widened as he noticed the sphere getting smaller. Slowly but surely the particles were drawn closer together until it looked like they were touching, and even then it still continued until they were absolutely forced next to each other at an atomic level.

Alex watched as they slowed down, he was able to finally see a light particle. He quickly took a piece of lead and turned it into a powder. He opened his notebook to an empty page and copied several diagrams of the light's atomic structure.

Alex felt enlightened as he saw it, it looked like a puzzle piece, and he could already see it combining with the rest and forming a pattern similar to the one he created across his spacial energy.

The light began forming an intricate pattern, it was as if someone was painting with an invisible brush and the two were able to witness it. Soon just like with the dark element, light began to pour out from the sphere. It was thicker than regular light and had a weight to it, the two could feel its presence as it collided with them. The light pouring out began to form a halo as the amount of it present increased.

Taylor almost immediately began absorbing the rich amount of light mana.

Alex sighed. 'Can't even sense light mana even with this abundance."

'Would I subject myself to torture again, just so I could strengthen my light affinity? Of course, I would.' He thought before turning the engine of the car on once again.

He pulled out the book, of 'English' to read while he was waiting on the catalyst to form.

He looked like he was waiting for a morning's glass of coffee to get done, but internally he was scared. His insides churned as he remembered what he had gone through last night. He looked over at Taylor who was too engrossed in absorbing the light mana, to even hear the soft roar of the engine as it generated lightning energy.

Alex took a book from the back of the car using it as a reference to find words he needed to learn. As he learned some words he also learned the sounds the letters made. He had skimmed through the book from the car and every once in a while he would find a word that was spelled the same in both languages but sounded completely different.

"It's gonna take a while to decipher the English language." Alex said using the universal languages version of English now that he knew it.

Alex heard the familiar crackling noise. He looked up to see it nearing the safe limit.

Using his spacial energy he turning the vehicle off and caught the catalyst.

'I'll wait a bit before I absorb it. Taylor's too busy absorbing that energy, I know that once I touch the catalyst my control over the halo will disappear.'

Alex sat down and continued to learn the new ancient language.

After a while, Alex checked his watch.

"Hey, Taylor! It's 10:10, we only have a little bit before we have to go back."

Taylor, who was still calmly sitting after several hours, jumped slightly after hearing Alex scream his name.

"Why are you over there? You should try absorbing this." Taylor said after he got his bearing.

"No can do, I can't even sense light mana yet, much less absorb it."

Taylor looked at the strange thing Alex was sitting in. "Is that a car?"

"Yup, it is. I found it all the way down here last night along with that guy behind you." Alex said finding it hard to contain his laughter.

'Five dollars says he will scream like a girl.'

"Ahhh!" Taylor screamed as he saw a human skeleton.

"How long have I been sitting next to that?" Taylor asked Alex after his heart stopped feeling like it would burst.

"He's been there the whole time." Alex said his face turning red as he was failing to hide how humorous he found the situation.

"This stuff looks like it came from an ancient city. I'm trying to understand the language, do you want to give it a shot while I do some last-minute training." Alex said as he handed the book from the car to Taylor and hid the translation guide.

'Can't have them coming after you sorry for hiding it from you.' Alex thought as he walked to the center of the room.

"Oh, and whatever happens don't touch me I'm sure it will hurt you much more than it will hurt me." Alex said.

"What, gonna hurt you?" Taylor said after he stopped squinting at the letters in the book.

Alex drew the catalyst closer to him and clasped it in his hand.

"ALEX NOOO!!" Taylor said after he realized what Alex was grabbing. He dashed towards him but was stopped as he saw huge arcs of lightning travel around Alex's body.

Alex was already on the ground barely able to keep consciousness. Taylor was waiting for the power to die down before he could go over and help him. 'I still don't know how to heal with my light affinity but I have to try.'

His heart sank when he was able to see Alex's body. Lichtenberg's scars covered every inch of Alex's body. He quickly noticed a change in what was happening though.

Alex opened his red eyes as he began absorbing the lightning directly into his light affinity. This time he was the one controlling it.

The lightning that was once hazardous, spread throughout his body once more. All his injuries were repaired before he could fall into a fatal state. Alex groaned as his senses came back to him. He felt fire in his nerves for a moment before they went back to normal.

When he was back to normal, he sent back all of the excess energy into his light affinity.

It grew brighter and brighter and his body grew stronger once again. 'It shouldn't take too many more times.' Alex thought as he shook himself clean and got up.

"I'm forcibly awakening my light affinity early. Take a seat while I tell you what I learned today from Michael and Daniel." Alex said while hopping into the car's driver seat.

Taylor nodded and sat down next to Alex, he was shocked he had just witnessed Alex go from near-death to completely healthy.

He listened as Alex explained how once he awakened his light affinity, he would be called a mage of balance, and that once that became public news he would be hunted by a lot of people, including Wyatt who would feel the most threatened by him. He told him, he was doing it all for a girl, that he could spend his days biding his time and getting stronger, but he couldn't be certain that he would be an old man completely forgotten from her memory by the time he got to where he needed to be.

At first, he had thought that Alex was suicidal, but he was starting to understand the situation he was in. 'He is grasping onto every opportunity to strengthen himself.'

"Don't worry about what just happened, the first time it happened was an accident and it was only after my light affinity drew in the lightning that I was able to get back to full health. Now that I've successfully done it on my own, the next times will be less and less dangerous." He had felt his control over the hazardous lightning forcibly strengthen while going through the experience.

"She must be a hell of a girl, for you to go through all of this for her."

"She is, I probably wouldn't be the same me that your speaking to today if it weren't for her."

"I hope I can find someone like that." Taylor said as he finally calmed down. Today was a rollercoaster of emotions for him. He had seen and learned a lot in just two days. He realized how small his knowledge of the world was, and when he looked at Alex he felt that Alex would search through every crevice and loophole to survive.

"Hey, Alex. If we continue to train like we are now I could breakthrough to the Expert class in a month. Then the Master class in maybe half a year. Whenever you decide to reveal yourself to the world, I should be plenty strong enough to help you out." Taylor said before getting up as he looked at his watch.

Alex got up as well, enveloping them both in his energy and lifting them up.

"Which is why we have to get as many rewards as possible." Alex smiled. "At this rate, even Tom and James wouldn't be able to stay ahead of us. The tier three cultivation pills will be sitting in our hands before too long. Not to mention the rewards we don't know about, but the real prizes, the real prizes come from the competitions. If we get first place, then the rewards should be no less than what Timothy was willing to give."

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The two stopped as they reached the edge of the woods. Taylor said his fair wells and left heading back home.

Alex laid in his bed and made sure the door was airtight, placing some pieces of cloth into the cracks. He then created a halo of darkness and proceeded with his training only stopping when the morning light had shone through his window.

'Every second counts.'