Chapter 35 Advance Element

Maxwell Claireton

He is in front, sitting on a chair on the stage of one of the rooms in the lecture hall. The lecture hall looks like a typical classroom, which has a lot of long desks and individual seats that were filled with awakeners of different ages. Maxwell is a senior knight working for the Curtana family, with the same last name as Clarice. Maxwell, as senior knight, has many responsibilities to accomplish; one of these responsibilities is conducting advanced elemental training.

He liked arriving in the lecture hall rooms ahead of time, and it was currently 10 minutes before his lecture starts, so he was currently doing nothing and just waiting for the time.

After a few minutes, the trio of Nicholas, Maria, and Clarice entered the room for the appointed time to learn advanced elemental manipulation.

Nicholas: "Good afternoon." Nicholas greeted Maxwell since they know each other, especially her daughter, Clarice.

Maxwell: "Good afternoon to you too, young master. You guys come sit in front; today you will be learning advance elemental manipulation," Maxwell said with an energetic voice.

They followed Maxwell's instructions and sat in front of the class. Since there was still a few minutes before the lecture began, Maxwell decided to talk to them for a bit.

Maxwell: "You guys, grow up really quickly. A few years back you guys were still wet behind your ears, but today you guys already had your first promotion and will soon be learning about advance elements. And I am very proud of you guys," he followed up, saying.

They nodded at his statement and thanked him as a reply.

Maxwell: "Well enough of that." He went back on the stage and began introducing himself.

Maxwell: "*clap**clap* EVERYBODY QUIET DOWN!! Let's start with our lecture, but first, let me introduce myself."

Maxwell: "Most of you guys know me already, but for the few of you that don't, my name is Maxwell Claireton, a senior knight under the count Curtana. You guys are here today to learn about advanced elements, and the first lesson will be the introduction to advanced elements."

Maxwell: "Advance elemental manipulation is a requirement to learn before being able to learn an advance element type of skill tome. Why is this so?"

Maxwell: "But before I answer that question. First, what is an advance element? Do anyone in class know about advance elements? Maybe you guys know someone who knows who can use them?"

Some of the awakeners in the lecture hall raised their hands, while some of them replied to Maxwell by saying yes to his question.

Maxwell: "The easy answer is that an advance element is a combination of two elements that you can release and manipulate using your soul core."

Maxwell: "As an example..." Maxwell demonstrated his elements, both fire and air elements. On his right hand is a fire element, and on his left is an air element.

Maxwell: "Just combining them willy-nilly won't get you anywhere. Try it for yourself; try to mix two elements in your hands." He tried to combine fire and the air elements, but it didn't mix no matter how hard he tried. Some of the awakeners also tried to mix the elements but also failed.

Maxwell: "Do you guys know why you failed to do so?" he asked the crowd.

Nicholas: "Because the elemental particles already manifested cannot be combined." Nicholas raised his hands.

Maxwell: "Yes, you are right, young master. Elemental particles that have already manifested will not or won't ever mix to create an advanced element. What you need to do is mix the element while still inside your body, then manifest it into an advance element."

He was about to begin his lecture in earnest, talking about how advance elements are created.

Maxwell: "Let's proceed. When mixing elements, it is important to consider two things: what is the dominant element and the passive element. Every element can be a dominant element or a passive element; it's just your preference in creating such an element in the first place. As an example, I first will demonstrate fire as a dominant element to a passive air element."

Maxwell started channeling mana particles in his hand, which turned into lighting elements. Flashing quickly and menacingly, which indicates it contains a lot of power in those lighting elements. After that, he cancelled his lighting manipulation to cast another advance element, which is smoke. In his hands, fog-like smoke appeared.

Maxwell said, "What can you guys infer from what I just did?"

????"With two elementary elements, you can create two advanced elements," someone on the back said.

Maxwell: "Yes, you are correct but not entirely right," he said.

Clarice: "The difference in power is apparent when the senior knight Claireton uses the lighting element rather than the smoke-like element. The mana particles are denser in the lighting element rather than the smoke element," Clarice said as she spoke her mind.

Maxwell: "Yes, you are correct. Here is an important part: you guys have two elements. Combining both can create two different elements, but the power is different between the two elements. This is not because one advanced element is better than the other."

Maxwell: "But because my elementary fire element is higher leveled than the air element, hence, I can create a dense lightning element rather than a denser smoke element. This is not an important thing to consider yet, but it will be important in the long run. So, consider it now, but focus more on trying to manifest a single advance element."

He suddenly remembered that he has to distribute something first. So he went to the desk and grabbed the booklets and began handing them out to the people in front.

Maxwell: "Here is a guide on how to mix elements inside the body. Everything that will be taught in this lecture will be in that small book. But be sure to listen still, since not all of the intricacy of creating advance elements is written in that book. Has everyone received a journal on how to mix their elementary elements?"

Everyone nodded, and some replied yes to his question.

Maxwell: "Okay, let's proceed." He continued his lecture about the advanced elemental training.

Maxwell: "It might look easy, but it will take great concentration and control in your first time to create and manipulate an advance element. That will be the end of the lecture for today. Are there any questions, doubts, or concerns about the lecture?"

Someone raised her hands and spoke.

????: "Senior knight, can you mix three elements to create a more advance one?"

Maxwell: "The short answer is yes. However, if you ask me how, you won't be getting the answer since I myself don't know. You have seen high nobles have their own signature skill tomes and elements. They are created by doing such, but certainly the requirements are unknown and kept secret."

Maxwell: "But don't worry too much. Using more elements doesn't necessarily equate to better power since the main point in elemental power is the level of your base element, which is fire, earth, wind, and water. Even if you have a fancy elemental combination skill, without proper strength it will be useless."

Maxwell: "Anymore questions?"

People raised their hands since there are parts of the lecture they are quite shaky about, so the senior knight answered all the questions patiently. For several minutes.

Maxwell: "Now that everyone's question is answered, I'll give you two hours to read and understand the principle of mixing the elementary elements. After that, we will proceed to the training ground to see if anyone can create and manifest even a tiny wisp of advance element."

After saying that, Maxwell left the lecture hall to let us read and comprehend the journal on mixing elementary elements. One by one people started reading; both Maria and Clarice also got to their task and read the journal. Everyone was focused on this endeavor; they were really excited to manifest their first advance elemental particle. People can hear flipping pages, but that didn't distract them since they were all concentrated on learning what's in the journal.

…

About 2 hours had passed, and Maxwell has returned to the room. And with a loud and clear voice, which snapped most people out of their reverie in the lecture hall who were still reading the book.

Maxwell: "Okay, let me collect those books first. It is not allowed to take those books."

All the people in the room followed and handed the books to the front. Maxwell counted the books before nodding.

Maxwell: "I hope everyone has read the book or at least perused it. Don't worry, you're not supposed to read that book in one sitting. You guys will be stuck with me and in this lecture hall for two weeks, giving you more chance is finishing it. But first, let's go to the open field to test your learnings. Come on, follow me!"

Maxwell and the students in the lecture hall went to the open field behind the mansion. After arriving there, he said

Maxwell: "I hope everyone has read and finished the part that I instructed you guys to read. after I distributed it earlier. If you didn't fully understand the journal, fine, for now just try it out."

Maxwell: "Don't worry if you guys have a hard time. I will also assist you this time around, so just keep trying. You might not mix your elements today, but just try since it is not that easy. It also took me a few days to completely follow the instructions to create my first advanced elements."

Everyone chose a place to sit; the weather is cloudy, so the outdoor field wasn't hot. Meanwhile, Nicholas, Maria, and Clarice were near Maxwell, asking questions they didn't get about the book, and Maxwell gladly cleared most of their misunderstanding. After that, the three decided to find a quiet stop to finally do their first elemental mixing.

Nicholas was sitting on a shade of a tree, feeling his mana circulate around his body. First up is the earth element; like manipulating a single element, he lets it circulate around. When he was ready, he let tiny amounts of water elements from his soul core mix in with the abundant earth element.

He followed the instruction in the journal by slowly introducing the elements to each other at different concentrations. At first it might not mix since precision is key to this kind of thing. So that's what Nicholas did; he tried adding different mixtures of earth and water elements together.

First try....

The earth element and water element particle combined... dissipated didn't even manifest.

Second try...

A little bit less of both elemental particles combined... dissipated didn't even manifest.

Third... fourth... fifth... failed... failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...

fiftieth try.

Adjusting the ratio of elemental particles combined... it didn't dissipate yet; it didn't form a natural elemental particle.

failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...failed...

This took a lot of trial and error to get the proper mixture. But after another 2 hours and 70 tries. He learned from each mistake and error he made along the way, and he didn't let failure cloud his judgment.

seventy-first try...

Nicholas gathered a wisp of water element from his soul core; he changed the ratio between the earth and water elements according to his previous failed result. This time, the elemental particles also didn't dissipate; he let the element slowly coalesce, taking his time in letting the elemental particles greatly adhere to each other. This was a better result from the previous trial, slowly and patiently guiding rationed elemental particles to each other. A small, green light burst from Nicholas's body, but then it still dissipated.

A tiny manifestation of a natural element.

Nicholas: "*Sigh* Yes, I successfully did it."

He was quite happy. Even though he failed in stabilizing the element, he succeeded in manifesting even just a tiny wisp of the nature element.