Activation, Karmic Erasure

Brian, who didn't have the complete information concerning Homer Simpson, shook his head, puzzled. He only knew of Homer Simpson from his publication of 2 theses on Elemental conversion. The same goes for Amelia, who also portrayed a puzzled expression. Upon seeing their expressions, Mrs. Carliste sneered and told them who Homer Simpson truly was.

"Homer Simpson was known through his publication of two theses concerning the elemental conversion of immaterial to material elements and elemental concentration producing a physical phenomenon. It was at that point the researchers and even governments around the world designated Homer Simpson as a Class V researcher." At this point, her voice changed from being astonished to being somber.

She continued, "That was before he managed to hack into Eta's conference of Demigod representatives, and caused a commotion. Later on, he caused one of Eta's ruins to be destroyed and revealed some truths about the ruins all over the world. This is when he exposed that he was an Outsider visitor because he was attracted by a signal emitted by something or someone on our planet several years ago."

"And the appearance of his name in the encryption code, on the so-called test results of his co-writer, Xander Cloverfield, is merely a coincidence? I think not. There's a deeper connection between the two, and we must inform the Eta government- no, the world council right away!" Mrs. Carliste finished off her statement frenzied.

After all, Xander Cloverfield, according to her husband, had also caused another disturbance 4 days ago, causing every single Demigod in Ete continent to be affected.

She was even only privy to this information because her husband was one of the Demigods who were affected by the situation; all of them were severely injured, not to the point of dying, however, but incapacitated and would need a month or two to completely recover.

According to some news, even Divine magicians were affected in the continent, waking up from their deep meditations and taking over of some of the ancient clans and conglomerates of their descendants, while others had their Mythic magicians take the helm.

It was both a boon and a problem for the countries in the Ete continent because they can use this time to suppress bad seedlings from their countries and restore more of their authority and control of their respective countries.

Not only that, but it also boosted everyone below the Demigod stage, increasing their affinities, comprehensions, and even their stages. Other people who weren't able to practice magic, were showing talent on practicing magic cultivation after a while, while those in the Mundane stage would have an additional primary element they are attuned to.

If the government can recognize the connection between Xander Cloverfield and Homer Simpson, the university's prestige would also rise in the eyes of the other governments! Mrs. Carliste was thinking of the long-term effects if she released the information to the Eta government, as well as to the world council.

However, would Xander even give her the chance to do so?

The moment she had that thought in her mind, the spell Xander casually and silently cast before he left on Mrs. Carliste, [Thread of Karma], activated on its own, instantly turning the world into a stilled silence for Mrs. Carliste.

Immediately, everything turned monochrome for Mrs. Carliste, and everything stopped moving around her. Slowly, bit by bit, everything she remembered about the people she loved, she cared for and had given birth to, all of them slowly vanished. It was a creeping kind of vanishing; she was aware that she was losing something very vital, very important to her existence, piece by piece, one at a time. Her childhood? Gone. Her friends? Gone. Her family? Gone. Her emotions? Gone. Her existence? Gone.

All the traces she had left in the world slowly disappeared, leaving only a foreign name for anyone who used to know her. She could feel her body disintegrate and crumble under the coercive force of the ordered system, attempting to purge the foreign material. Only a thread remained, a thread connected to her husband, which was slowly withering and snapping part by part.

Simultaneously, her husband, who was a demigod, could sense that the karma between him and his wife was being snapped piece by piece.

They knew the existence of surface-level karma, as it was foundationally taught as fundamental in establishing a life essence doll; after all, their life essences are metaphysically assembled by karmic threads. It was only recently that they realized that there were elements and even magics that can manipulate and control karma.

The snapping of these threads, although he didn't know what was specifically happening to his wife, the demigod had a foreboding sense that something very important to him would disappear. He tried to resist the corrosive force the karmic threads that combined into one thick rope was experiencing, but to no avail, as he had never thought that karma was another type of element to be understood and mastered.

Seconds passed by, but for the demigod, it felt like months of continuous battle, a battle that ultimately... he had lost. Immediately, memories flashed by within his mind, her smile, her touch, her tears, her anger, her hopes and dreams, her very first appearance, the first time they dated... All of these crumbled to ashes, and try as he might, he could not remember what he had just lost. He coughed out a mouthful of blood, and the machines monitoring his condition began beeping crazily, causing the doctors and magicians of the Life element to rush in to help stabilize his condition.

Back in the meeting room, there was not a trace left of Mrs. Carliste's existence, and the experience she experienced was actually within a span of 10 seconds. Not even Amelia nor Brian noticed something amiss, except for the fact that they were gathered in the meeting room again.

"Wait, Amelia, why were we in the meeting room again?"

"Ugh... I remember it's something about the test items being locked by the quantum supercomputer? By this person named Homer Simpson?" Amelia said, a bit bewildered. She felt that something was missing, but she couldn't put her finger on it. There wasn't any damage to her body, nor were there any detected magic disturbances in the area.

"Hmm, that's right. I think Homer Simpson is the same guy who wrote those 2 papers. Do you remember who his co-author was? It was Xander Cloverfield. Yes, this very same student." Brian said excitedly as if he was happy to find a clue about his research.

After all, his family's older generations have theorized and attempted to prove it but were met with failure. If he managed to see the in-depth results of the test, he might have a chance to crack at the mystery of the space element! Brian was filled with fervor.

...

...

...

All the while, the culprit, Xander, noticed the fluctuation of his spell activating. He was already in front of the building of his class when he felt it.

He tsked a bit.

"Less than 2 minutes. Pity, she wasn't sensitive to the danger she was facing. It seems people in Eteria only managed to become sensitive to fate upon reaching the Demigod level. Probably because of their over-reliance on technology, or maybe they aren't just attuned to it," Xander mumbled to himself, as he scanned his smartwatch over the terminal.

Of course, this was the new communicator model he bought from the Galactic Empire; it has been modified to work in Eteria as well as have the additional functions he had placed on the previous smartwatch.

He headed inside the building and saw that the class hadn't started yet, with Ms. Lim not even here yet. He looked around and saw some familiar faces.

"Oh, Xander, you're finally back!" Maryann exclaimed, approaching Xander's desk with joy.

"Yeah. How's the elemental fusion, Maryann? Have you found a way to combine the two elements?" Xander replied, genuinely curious if she was able to discover a solution on her own.

Although he wouldn't have such problems since what he had was a paired origin element, he wasn't able to completely resolve the issue of fusion between two opposing elements besides using his origin-elements to order them before he had left a week ago, so he only gave her some of her interpretation and understanding of the 5 elements and their relationship, and how one gives birth to another while rejecting another.

Of course, after finishing the course material in advance, as well as the several thousands of research papers published in the Galactic Empire and in Eteria the past week, he had a clear understanding of the spells.

"Hmm, there's some progress! But for now, I'm a bit confused. Although according to the hierarchical setup, Ice is a tertiary element that is suppressed by a secondary element, fire.

Ice is formed from the interaction of the heat element that is under Fire element and that of the Water element, another secondary element. Shouldn't it be, by its form and combination, Ice be more superior than fire?" Maryann questioned, feeling lost.

Although she had deepened understanding concerning ice and fire elements, the interaction of the two still remains a mystery. If she wasn't able to find a combination point for both elements, she'll probably be stuck in Master Class forever; worse still, she might not even progress to Master class!

Xander, with the amount of information he had already accessed and stored in the past week, had a probable solution, but it involved the knowledge banks of the Galactic Empire: Elemental Fusion by representation. You fuse two elements that have similar, close, or nearly the same representations/rules. It's a new concept for Eteria, but he didn't want to introduce it this early. He did plan, however, to hint something at Maryann.

"You're actually on the right track, Maryann. You also already have the answers to your questions.

Ice is made by a tertiary derivative of fire and by secondary element water. Ice can be stronger than fire, but fire is still stronger than ice; this is because of hierarchical suppression, and because a tertiary element of fire is a part of ice.

Here's the question for you to think more about: What point between fire and ice can you use as a starting part of fusion? Once you realize that, you would be able to begin fusion of the pseudo-spells quite easily." Xander said after a minute of 'deep' thinking.

Maryann was a bit puzzled, then pensive, before suddenly smiling, as if a light bulb had turned on inside her head. She nodded profusely at Xander.

"Thanks, Xander! I think I understand what you are trying to say!" She did so while grabbing Xander's hands, shaking them with joy for a few seconds before realizing that it was Xander who she was talking to, causing her to drop the hands and retreat shyly.