Life Force, Elements

'If I think of my body as a Crystal, then it's around 82% Full of Life Force.'

When Leus wondered if he could increase that, he quickly got the answer

'I can indeed increase the amount of Life Force in my body, but there's a limit.'

'I won't be able to increase it beyond 94% of the Crystal'

Leus felt that he could achieve that by unlocking his Skill, but that left a question 

'Wouldn't I directly Evolve after I unlock my Skill?' 

'Why do I feel like I'll unlock my Skill, increase the amount of my Life Force to 94%, then still be in the same Realm? Hmm?' 

Something was missing, but Leus didn't know exactly what it was 

'Oh well, let's leave that for when I unlock my Skill'

Worrying about theories now would be of no use, there were still some things that Leus wanted to try.

First, Leus instinctively knew that he could transform his Life Force into Elemental Mana.

But before he focused on that, he asked his mind a question

'If Life Force can be transformed into Mana, can Mana be transformed into Life Force as well?' 

'NULL'

'Uh? What?'

Leus thought about the question again, and his mind gave back the same answer.

It was as if he submitted a nonexistent command to a machine, so the machine responded with nothing.

Just emptiness, blank. 

'Alright, so I guess this means that I do not know' 

Leus felt disappointed, but after a couple of seconds, he felt relieved

'I'd have been sad if it said No, at least now I have hope that maybe I'll find out a way to transform Mana into Life Force' 

'It'd be overpowered hehehe'

Leus focused back on transforming Life Force into Elemental Mana.

'That's a key point for my Skill'

'Vapour on its own isn't useful, it needs other elements to work as a Catalyst.'

His mind told him that he could only transform Life Force into Elemental Mana of only four Elements

'Water'

'I don't need that'

'Fire'

'I can do that on my own too'

'Vapour'

'Thanks to my great Ancestor, I can do this too' 

And finally

' ? '

'Huh?' 

Leus thought about what the fourth Element would be again, and his mind responded with the same reply

' ? ' 

It felt as if there was a thick black cloud of nothing for an answer.

His mind could sense and perceive the cloud, it just couldn't describe it with words.

'So I don't know this too huh ...'

'I can feel it, I can perceive it, but I do not know what it is'

'My mind has no name for it'

But Leus quickly realized that despite not knowing its name, he could feel the characteristics of that unknown element.

He focused on it and very quickly he was able to sense its nature 

'It's dark' 

'Not dark as in Darkness that opposes Light, it's dark in nature ... like evil?' 

He inwardly shook his head

'No ... Evil is not the right word' 

'Ominous'

'Sinistrous'

'Yeah, that's the right word, it's Ominous' 

As Leus thought more about the nature of that element, he felt daunted, almost petrified.

He quickly stopped looking at its nature

'What the fuck is that' 

'It's like that thing has a consciousness or an awareness or whatever'

It felt doomy, powerful, and scary.

Leus felt as if the element could encompass his mind.

He instinctively knew that the Element wouldn't take full control of his mind, but it would direct, guide, or even force his thoughts to go in a specific direction.

'Like it would steer my mind to do specific things even if I don't want to'

Naturally, Leus didn't like that at all

'This thing is too powerful, would I even be the one in control if I use that?' 

He wasn't sure 

'At the very least, it would be both me and the Element fighting for control ...' 

Leus felt confused 

'What the hell does that even mean? ...'

'I'm thinking about things that I don't understand ... would I be hearing voices in my head or something?' 

There was only one way to get answers, and honestly, Leus was extremely intrigued. 

He unconsciously gulped

'I feel like I'm about to do something wrong ...' 

He inwardly smiled wryly

'Curiosity is about to kill the cat ...' 

Leus concentrated hard on that ominous element residing within him.

It was like poking at a hidden world. The more he poked, the more he felt strange sensations, like ripples in a pond.

He didn't stop until he got to where he chickened out before.

Taking a deep breath, he told himself, "Alright, let's do this."

With newfound courage, he decided to go even deeper into whatever that element was.

'Here goes nothing.'

At first, nothing of note happened.

But as he went deeper, the feeling of ominosity kept increasing.

Before he noticed, Leus found himself surrounded by darkness.

'Where did all this darkness come from, I can't even see my body anymore.'

Nevertheless, he went deeper.

He kept going until a humongous black gate appeared in front of him.

Leus stood in front of the gate nervously

'What is that ...'

The gate had no handle, but as soon as Leus imagined one, it appeared 

'If that's the case then ...' 

Leus tried to imagine light

A torch, a light stone, a candle, even the sun itself. 

But nothing happened.

'Heh ... well, it was worth a shot'

Leus took a deep breath, imagined a hand, and pushed the black gate open.

Immediately, Leus sensed that something was looking at him.

'Something is here ...' 

He was sure about it, something was watching him.

He looked around him but there was nothing other than darkness.

'What a horror ...'

He felt tensed and uneasy, but he didn't go back

'I came this far, I won't stop now' 

So he walked forward 

Time passed like that 

Leus didn't know how much time he walked, but it was a lot of time 

After walking for a while, he found another gate 

'Are we playing a game here?'

He imagined a handle and put his imaginary hand on it, but as soon as he did that, he felt indescribable fear and terror. 

'It's right behind this door' 

A cold shiver ran down his spine 

'I'm scared ...'

He looked back 

'Will I really stop here?' 

'I won't, right?' 

He put his other hand on the gate

'Come on Leus ... what's the worst that could happen?'