Chapter 33 – Ether

What are the elements?

The elements are the attributes inherent in the basic building blocks of a world.

These 'Buiding blocks' are known as magicules with magitoms being a higher grade and atoms being a lower grade.

Every magicule has an inherent element to it. For example, magicules with the earth and metal element would come together to form mountains.

In theory, if one was able to harness and understand the laws that govern these elements to a level of perfection, they would be able to create anything as long as sufficient magicules were provided.

Adventurers on the continent of Gordian were able to manifest the power of the elements through skills.

The elements were divided into 7.

Air – Water – Fire – Earth – Metal – Light – Dark

The first five elements were known as the primary elements. It is said that these were the first elements that came into existence during the creation of the cosmos.

The heavens and the earth were created by the 5 elements and then to inhabit it the two auxiliary elements of light and dark were created.

The creatures born from pure light were known as gods while creatures born from the sinister darkness were called fiends. Existences believed to be on the same level and yet completely opposite.

All other races were either naturally created by the heavens or produced by the gods through a mixture of these seven elements later on.

Everything came from the seven elements but the seven elements also were created during the formation of the cosmos. Then what was it that created them?

Ether.

Ether is space. Everything that is comprised of within space is Ether.

An implosion of a concentrated amount of ether is said to have separated it, creating the elements, the heavens and the mortal worlds.

What is Ether then?

It is the culmination of all the elements. The origin and the source of all life and matter.

It was the supreme element that reigned over all the others. Feared and revered at the same time.

This element was so chaotic and unruly that it was given the title of 'Primordial chaos.'

...…

"This element is so obscure that in the Gordian continent the only texts left on it are the mentions of it in the hero stories that are told to the children."

I myself have only read about it in 3 such books. But in each of them, it is described the same way. 'The emperor of the elements. Rule it and even the heavens shall tremble.' That's how powerful it is." Adam was explaining everything he knew about Magicules and the elements to the girls. He was now getting to the end of his conjectures on the Ether element.

"One of the books states a hero was born with the ability to utilize the Ether element. He conquered the trillion lesser worlds through his ability to command all 7 elements. 'The true sovereign' was the title he was given in the book."

"I can control all the elements? I am that awesome?" Luna asked sceptically.

"What?! Not fair! How come Luna gets to do that?" Elaine was jealous beyond compare but it was easy to spot the happiness she felt for her as well. She stared intently at her sister, hoping to figure out her secret.

"Haha, I'm not too sure either. This is all speculations from what I've read in storybooks. The only way to find out is if you use your spells." He replied with a laugh. The joy that he felt right now was truly heartfelt.

There was no way to fix the desolate hole that would have been created if Luna had to hide from the world in the future. Though he would accompany her through it all without a complaint, the fact that she would not be able to enjoy all the things in the world like other normal girls still upset him.

Finding out that she did not have the darkness element was like the opening of a shackle that restricted the three.

"Let me try it out now then!" Luna was too excited to remember where she was.

"Calm down! You will have plenty of time to test it once we go back out in the real world." The soul world was not a place that was comprised of the elements.

"Yeah. You better not show it off too much though." Elaine was sulking to herself.

"Hehe, sister are you jealous? I am going to be more useful to the party now. Young master will praise me more and pat my head more!" Luna had completely lost that lack of self-confidence that she had before. She now had a refreshing feeling to her, like the breeze in spring.

"You! Getting all overconfident just because of one little element. Hmph. Will young master really praise us and pat our head if we do well?" She retorted sternly. Only the latter half was an almost inaudible mumble. Unfortunately for her, they were all in the soul world and the conversation was transmitted to the others mind directly.

"Only if you two do really well." He said in an enticing voice. They were all in a really good mood.

"Then I'm definitely going to be the one who gets all the pats!" Luna yelled at the top of her lungs. She balled her fists in front of her chest and was hopping up an down in excitement.

Adam couldn't help but chuckle when he saw her in the projection.

"Well see about that!" Elaine stood in her soul world with her arms folded. After knowing that her sister had an advantage over her already in this 'race', She was currently figuring out every possible way she could win. 'I'll definitely get him to praise me more and also pat my head. I definitely won't lose.' She thought to herself. What was there to win? She herself did not know but the feeling of not wanting to lose had already been imprinted.

A competitive spirit had been ignited in the two sisters.

Adam could only shake his head as he realized what the two were thinking. He wasn't too worried because the sisters may fight but their bond was unbreakable. They may be peas of completely different colour and shape but they were still from the same pod and now they had pulled him into it as well.

"Okay, you two! stop fighting. Let's get out of here first. We will talk once we get back to my room. It would be hard to explain if mother walked into the room and found us unconscious."

"Okay!" "Okay." The two replied.

He then began explaining to them how he would get in and out of his soul world. After a few tries, the girls were able to leave their worlds and only then did Adam return as well.

....

Adam's POV-

Two tiger girls sat at the table in the room ahead of me. Their feline ears twitching attentively. Every word I say is captured and memorized by them.

'These girls are such fast learners. I only had to explain how I entered and exited the soul world a few times before they picked it up. Now when I'm explaining how to peer into the soul to view their cards, Elaine has already picked it up after the first repetition. Does she know how many times I tried and failed before I figured it out? Ugh. I don't even want to talk about it. I'm happy for her. Totally happy for her. Not one bit resentful. Nope.'

I had already gotten Elaine to understand the basic concept of soul peering. While Luna is comprehending how to utilize the technique I took the time to decide and ponder on the matter of their training.

'The first thing is figuring out an easy way to view the painting's on their card. I can't expect them to wait for ages to see the person within their painting execute a move or two. Plus it would be a little overboard to expect them to memorize the moves with one view.'

'They don't have the ability to record their cards as I do.'

'They are able to comprehend the soul world techniques a lot faster than me because they completely trust my experience as fact whereas I had to first accept the possibility that the concept was real and not a figment of my imagination before I could even begin to explore it. Plus I did not have someone giving me pointers.'

'I had to come up with a logical reason for their growth or my sanity would take too great a hit. Umm, I mean… I had to put it under a logical perspective for…for… for science! Uh, yeah no other reason comes to mind. I had no ulterior motives. The mind of a saint. Totally.'

'Moving on…'

'With training, however, they will have to tread their own path individually. Even with my matchless comprehension, I need to view the movements and attacks a few times to memorize them.'

After a few internal deliberations, I came up with the idea of having recorded the projection of the card myself. I could then imprint the useful parts into categorized recording crystals.

This way they could pick up the crystal which held similar techniques. Viewing them without having to go through hours of footage before getting to what they want to see just once. The crystals did not have the function to roll back or forward after all.

It was a bit inconvenient but I thought this was the best solution.

Recording crystals were not an expensive commodity. As such, it wasn't a problem for me to acquire them in bulk.

'The only other problem left for now is deciding whether to tell mother about Luna having the Ether element. It would be best to keep this under as many layers of deception as possible. Though I would feel bad, Luna would be a lot safer if we could even fool mother.'

'The problem is the fooling her part. She knows me too well for me to do it. I'll have to get the girls to do it. We should go with the story of her actually having the air element and that because her village only tested her for the light element, they missed out on finding it.'

'I should first figure out if she can cast the Air element.'

By now she had also comprehended how to peer into her soul with ease. So I explained to them how I would be able to record and then imprint the images of the paintings and how they could use it.

"…also I need to know if you can cast the element of Air. Can you try it out now quickly? Before mother comes." I asked her to display her skill.

"Yes, of course, young master. Let me try."

'The celestial enlightenment stone should have enlightened her on how to cast her spells. The only question left is if she has the ability to control which element she casts.'

I watched as she closed her eyes and then began chanting in an unknown language. Her lips moved extremely quick. It seems even she was not in complete control of this process.

'So this is what Skills are.'

Swirl! Woosh!

A wind kicked up around us in the room and started blowing heavily. The sheets on my bed were pulled into the air and flew around the room. Eventually getting caught on Elaine. Making her look like a ghost cosplay.

When the wind finally subsided I was truly glad. This meant that she did have a certain level of control over which element she was using. This made it a lot easier to fool people. Showcasing her ability was more than enough to convince just about anyone.

'Even I am an abnormality that needs to be hidden because of my dual elements. No one should think anything otherwise once she shows her air spells openly.'

"I only had to think of the wind and it worked!" She happily gloated to me.

"Good job." I praised her. This was something that I had promised I would do if they ever excelled or put in the effort. Plus I really liked the pretty smile that would bloom after I would do so. That face… that they only showed me, warmed my heart.

'I am growing increasingly fond of these two cute girls. I haven't even spent more than two days with them. I'm not a lolicon! I'm not a lolicon! I'm not a lolicon! I dunno who I am yelling to in my own mind but this point has to be made clear!'

I then explained my plan to them in detail. I made clear how they should not tell anyone about the Ether element. It was a secret of ours that no one should know about.

Hearing that we shared a secret really excited them for some reason. I could not figure out why.

'As long as she only shows the element of Air out in public everything is perfectly fine. The only thing left now is to decide on a training program for them. I guess mother will want to do that so I will leave it up to her. Let's wait.'

'I wonder why she is taking so long.'