Talk With Mason; New Elements

"That's... hard to believe..."

"I know. I would have a hard time adjusting my mind to these fantastical things if my mind weren't influenced by the mana back then."

"What kind of influence you are talking about?"

"Hmm... It's hard to describe. It's like your body and mind both want to embrace mana and you yourself slowly drifting toward the mana and magic."

"That's a little scary."

"I know. But mana itself isn't scary. It's just an energy. It's up to you how you use it."

I told him everything that happened. How I found him on the verge of death and how he died in my arms. It was embarrassing to talk about it now that he was back to life. But I told him everything anyway. We have known each other for years and I know that I can trust him with anything.

He had a difficult time believing everything I told him. I created a small fire in my hand and showed this to him. He was shocked and started to accept things. Seeing supernatural things is always more effective than hearing them from someone else.

"So... I died..."

"Yep. Fortunately, I was able to bring you back. I'm going, to be honest with you, it was a huge gamble and I wasn't really sure I could pull it off. So, don't you dare to die on me, again."

"...thanks, I guess. Haah... Everything feels surreal."

"I know that feeling. It's hard to get used to things and you would sometimes want to return to the old life you had... But it's already impossible for both of us."

"Why? You can do magic, so why can't you return to your old life?"

That's a question I thought about a lot. Since Mason is dragged into these things without his consent and knowledge I felt if there was any way to return to that old life. The mana suppression seal Kairi used on the Lydia won't be influential on either me or Mason. It can't suppress or aether organ. Aether Organ will be creating more mana than the seal could handle.

If we let be, the mana will continuously leak from the body and it could cause a myriad of problems. It can affect the internal organs or the devices in the surroundings of the person.

"You and I have an organ that ordinary humans don't have. I call it Aether Organ. It produces mana. Even if you ignore it, the mana will eventually leak outside of the body and even if it doesn't affect your body it can affect your surroundings. Also, I don't think there is any way to safely remove it from the body."

"We have an organ that other people don't have?"

"Well, we both got it after we interact with liquid mana. In my case, I consumed it as drinking it, and in your case, we kept your body in the lake made out of it. Liquid mana is a mysterious liquid that we know very little of. You don't have to worry, it's safe."

After that, I told him more about the supernatural side. He doesn't have much of a choice but at least he deserves to know more about the world we live in. The spirits, the bounty hunters with magi-tech, shady groups with magi-techs, and the many different clans with supernatural powers. There are already too many different things to be wary of.

I was lucky so far with not facing opponents that I couldn't beat. But I know that my luck won't last forever. I will eventually have to face someone strong and dangerous. Especially since I'm the heir of the Hex Clan. Why do I keep saying I'm the heir? It's because of the necklace. I thought it was only a key to the pocket dimension of the Hex Dimension. When I was returning I brought some books and journals with me. And while reading them I learned that this necklace was made from the remains of the Crown of the Hex King.

Hex King is the leader of the Hex Clan back in the years 230 to 250. He was the king of the Hex Clan for twenty years and in his time Hex Clan was able to fight against all of the other clans that existed and won. He was a legendary figure in the history of the Hex Clan. And after his death, his crown was passed on to every patriarch that came. At some point, the crown was shattered into many pieces, and this necklace was made from most of the pieces. The necklace is small so I wonder what happened to the rest of the pieces.

As the one who possesses the necklace I'm supposed to be the patriarch but... It's just me left. And unfortunately my father. I hate him but after learning everything about my heritage... I have some mixed feelings. I will always hate him for what he did to me and my mom but... I don't know.

"Anyway, you should first face her. I don't know and can't imagine what are you feeling and thinking. You have experienced something horrible. It's just my own selfish desire but I want you to settle anything you have with her. Unlike us, she doesn't have to involve in this world. She can still have a relatively normal life."

"Thank you... I really need to talk with her... I get what you say but..."

"Hearing from me and from her would be different. Don't worry, I understand. Take as long as you want. After you made your decision, we should start your training."

I left the infirmary. There are no doors in the cave for now but I used a noise suppression seal. It prevents the noise from leaving the room and what's talked in the room won't leave the room. I will have to study Nature Element to create wooden things. After I left the room I looked at the Charlotte. Seeing my gaze she took a deep breath and gathered her resolve and went into the room. When she went into the room I left. I already told her how the seal was working. So if there is anything she would call out to me after leaving the room.

I left them to talk and went into the main hall. There is enough space to practice some novice and medium-level spells. I sat on the ground and before I could start anything Izumi and Kairi sat next to me.

"How did it go?"

"He is a little confused. He had trouble accepting what happened. Thankfully he looked like he could get over it. But I don't know what will happen between them after they face each other."

"Does he know that she doesn't have any part in what happened to him? You told him, right?"

"Of course, I told him everything. It's up to him to decide what to do. What he experienced isn't something normal after all. He might have changed his mind after that."

We talked a little. In the past week, both of them get closer to Charlotte. And now that Charlotte and Mason were facing each other about what happened, they become nervous. After all, she might leave after their conversation and we might have to erase her memories. No matter how it is, losing a friend is something painful.

After our little talk, I focused on practicing magic and more importantly, new elements. The explosion element is too unstable to practice here. So, I'm practicing more stable elements. Especially the one I want to have most, for the moment. The Nature Element. It allows one to control and manipulate plants around them or create new plants from the mana itself.

Learning the nature element was quite hard. It was mostly because I didn't have an affinity with it. I tried several elements and discovered that I can use elements that I don't have any affinity for. For example Wind and Light Elements. I can use them, but their usage can't be compared to my real affinities. I also study and practice Darkness before, I can feel it but I can't quite use it.

The six basic elements are relatively easy to learn for me. I have trouble with using darkness but it is much better compared to the nature element. The nature element is one of the six rare elements. The rare elements are complex and hard to understand. I could only use lightning thanks to my natural affinity. Otherwise, I couldn't even use a simple lightning spell. Because the lightning is much more unstable compared to other rare elements.

Since there is still no progress with the nature element I turned towards the other element I'm focusing on. It's a combination element like the explosion element but much more stable. It's the mud element. Yes, mud. I could also create mud with earth element but I'm after something more. My reason for creating this element is to have an element that can restrain my enemies.

It is still in its early stages. Slowly but surely I'm reaching my goal. I want it to restrain everyone that is caught with it. It's a bit hard but with my third eye, I'm slowly getting there. Creating the mud itself is easy but giving it the effect of restraining is difficult. I'm changing the fundamental concept of the mud. Well, I'm still confused about it but slowly I'm learning more as I practice more of it.

I also tried to learn other rare elements. Gravity, Magnetism, Spiritual and the Crystal. The gravity and the crystal are pretty interesting. I would like to know them but as the nature element, they are far too complex to understand too. I will have to study them in the future. I'm not trying to be the jack of all trades but learning more elements and having more spells in my arsenal would be useful.

I also have Hex but it drains the life force of the user. Because of this, I don't want to rely on it too much. I still want to live a long life. In the case of aether, I will focus on it later. I want to solidify my mana and magic abilities first. They are my main point after all. I'm already at the low-medium rank compared to spirits. I can fight most of the Inferior Rank spirits and win.

I released a heavy breath and opened my eyes. It's quite taxing both studying for rare elements and creating a new combination element. To create a combination element I slowly combine two different elements. In this matter, I'm combining water and earth elements. The more I combine them the more it becomes something different than the ones I used. Like explosion element, the elements I used are merging and turning into something different as I use them more and more.

The mud element I want will be much more versatile than the earth element and will have more firepower than the water element. Not to mention the restraining aspect I'm trying to instill in it. It's already different from the earth element in its core but not to the point it became a new element. Creating this element is actually going faster compared to the explosion element.

I point my hand to the open space in front of me. I'm directly controlling the element now not using any spell. I gather some mana in front of my hand and it slowly changed into the mud. Well, it was more of dirty water at this point. I used too much water, again. I can't balance it well enough. I either use too much water or too much earth.

"It's really hard. I'm stuck. In theory, I can use the mud element somewhat easily without restraining the aspect of it. But in practice, I can't really balance the water and earth elements."

"Well, you are trying to create a new element. You wouldn't expect it to be easy to achieve. It's something unheard of in the spirit realm. You achieving this much is already an awesome feat."

"What can I say, I'm the first mage on earth."