Chapter 122: Wings Made of Wax

For the next two weeks, Ciaran kept to a strict schedule. He experimented in the inner region near his cave with the bear and the bats. When he got hungry, he went back and hunted for food. Then he scouted for information, and finally, he killed one of the solo hunters.

By now there were only groups, and if a Hunter was going solo, he was far beyond what Ciaran could handle.

The boy was getting stronger with each passing day. His control and connection with his Storm grew, and so did his understanding of magic in general.

"So I didn't merge the two elements, I never had them to begin with. What I had was an understanding and synergy with two of the elements. However, when I reached the Mage Rank, I entered the mid ranks and that's when the elements get internalized."

He conjured a Storm and then called one as well. The one he created was his, meaning he could control it fully, but it was also limited by his soul. The one he called on was made out of Dyrta's mana, and as such was conceptually limitless, but also very difficult to control.

"I can't use it in my martial arts, because my body is still not completely transformed into the Storm element, and to put insult to injury I am too weak to handle my own element." He said to the lazy bear.

As he had no one to talk to, and the bear was sitting near him anyway, he decided to talk to it so he wouldn't have to talk to himself all the time. Besides it had given him advice once, who could say if it may feel generous again.

The beast usually had nothing against humans. They were small, ate less than most, and didn't take much space. Sure they liked to call large plots of land their territory, but in actuality about four-fifths of every nation was ruled over by beasts. The problems started when the tiny creatures decided they owned the place, and came to conquer. It usually ended with a lot of pointless sacrifices.

Ciaran understood that, and just kept to himself, never harming or hunting anything if he wasn't going to eat it. The beasts respected that and so he was allowed to be in the inner regions. The pugilist was always picking fights, but it was only against the strong, and if he won, he ate the loser. The beasts respected him too.

The other humans though, tried to cut down the trees, build funny-looking buildings, and were hunting prey to extinction. The beast would not let them in without a fight. They had no armies, but if the Hunters ever went too far, there would be a beast horde forming, and those usually had beasts up to the Eight Rank. Humanity could not handle that, not without suffering major losses.

As Ciaran was resting he was thinking about his roommates. They were, to be frank, a lot nicer than he would expect. The bats even fed him fruits when they saw he had to go back to the outer regions for food. The bear had even dug up a hole where he could leave all his waist. The beasts were even cleaning it, taking turns every week.

"…."

"You think of me as a pet, don't you?" He asked the bear and got a nonchalant nod in return.

Usually, that would demoralize normal people, but Ciaran was just built different.

"Teach me some tricks then. What kind of owners are you. Boo, bad owners, bad, letting your pup go untrained, what if he gets kidnaped by poachers?" He pestered them for advice.

The bats had no connection to the Storm, but they were more than accustomed to the blizzard. They knew how to handle its burden on their bodies.

'We can help you but only once a month.' They answered in telepathic communication.

"Why, you can't be asked to help more than that?" He asked, intrigued they were finally willing to talk to him.

'No, we dislike talking to non-members of our colony.' Another voice answered.

Ciaran remembered what his Master had told him of darkness users. All of them acted aloof and distant, not because they were apathetic by nature, but because they all suffered heavy social anxiety.

Not wanting to push the introverts more, he just thanked them and looked at the bear.

"Sure, but when my kid is born, you have to play with it. It needs a friend, and another Storm user would be very beneficial." The bear said.

Ciaran agreed, knowing full well that its pregnancy could last decades. He had no idea how long a bear's pregnancy lasted, let alone at whatever its Rank was.

"Leave your body for now, it's too… um, wounded to be trained in a violent element. Let it get used to the Storm for at least a few months, preferably a year. Next, do what you're doing right now, but rather than conjuring your Storm outside, take the real deal inside of your soul and compare the difference. It will cause you real pain, not like the slight sting you feel when you put it in your body." It said, and then it went quiet.

No matter what Ciaran asked, or how he begged, it was done with helping.

"Fine, be that way."

He sat in the lotus position and did as the bear said. He placed a small whisp of the real Storm inside his soul. Then he wanted to scream. The pain was so bad, he felt his bleeding sessions with the dryads were a spa day.

Every pore in his body bled. So did his ears and eyes. His nose was drowning him in snot, and his nether rejoins were producing waste, both from the front and from behind.

He was convulsing on the ground, while his mind was in shock.

Ciaran got a nice mental image of his soul. Unlike popular culture, it didn't look like Ciaran himself, it looked like Seabright City, with both the Clades Mansion and the Academy standing out the most.

And now a massive, majestic storm was raging inside his soul. It was a hurricane, a tropical cyclone that brought about high winds, heavy rain, and storm surges. As the hurricane approached, the sky darkened and the wind began to howl. The air was thick with moisture, and the first raindrops began to fall. The winds continued to increase in strength, and the rain became heavier and more intense.

In the eye of the hurricane, there was an eerie calm. But the other side of the storm brought destruction in its wake. Tornadoes were spawned from the rotating winds of the hurricane, tearing apart anything in their path. These destructive twisters could obliterate buildings, uproot trees, and fling debris through the air at terrifying speeds.

The combination of hurricane-force winds and tornadoes was catastrophic. Entire communities were decimated, leaving behind a landscape of devastation. Even the strongest structures were leveled, and the power of the storm left people feeling small and helpless in its wake.

It leveled everything, including the Academy, to the ground. Only one thing was left standing, the Maze and the Library standing in its center. The Storm raged and howled, but it was to no avail, they stood strong. Eventually, it got consumed by them, and what was once Dyrta's Storm was now the property of the boy.

He didn't wake up though. For five whole days, he struggled, and for three more he slept. Once he finally woke up, he could barely move.

His body had atrophied from not moving, his innards felt like a mushy soup and his bones cracked from the smallest movement. And yet the worst was his soul, it was torn open, and it was like he was one breath away from death.

"I meant to take the world's mana in, without the element. Your soul is nowhere near strong enough to handle that kind of punishment. Actually, it's a miracle you are even alive"

He wanted to curse it out. He wanted to tell the soon-to-be mother bear all the bad things her mother had done in life, but he couldn't speak.

He needed nourishment, but he couldn't even move, so there was no way he could hunt.

The bear didn't care, and just left him as she was bored of seeing him just lay there motionlessly. The bats however were far kinder. They have him some of their fruit juice, even going so far as to open his mouth so he could consume it. They cleaned him up and brought him inside the cave, so at least he could feel a bit of warmth.

'That was a bitch move bear, but it was useful in its own way.' He said

He now felt what the real Storm was, and he had an idea of what he should be. Once he recovered, he would test it out, and then, it was Mage hunting season for him.