Consolidating Affinities

From the good to the bad, Icrin finished telling his story to Rentaro, Haz, Tsyun, Phu, Ichi, and Shin.

Unlike the others who personally experienced all of the events, Rentaro felt it was incredulous. How could someone commit such cruel acts?

He shook his head, 'As cruel as it is, these situations aren't so uncommon in this world."

Alongside his revelation, Rentaro felt the urge to become stronger. Only by having strength could he take care of his loved ones.

The others saw the minute changes flashing in his eyes, nodding in approval. Yet they also understood, only time could tell if Rentaro would truly live up to this newfound resolve.

For them, two years had passed and every day seemed to blend together, all their time focused on training. The pressure was incredulous, and Tsyun found the most improvement.

What happened to him that day? The others weren't exactly sure, yet they continued to support him regardless.

And Icrin too. Once they found out about his coping mechanisms—using illusions to put himself to sleep—they gave him a good talk.

They wouldn't forget about what happened that day, but they also wouldn't trap themselves in the past either. Together, they would press on to their futures.

Suddenly, Haz spoke, "Rentaro. I'm not sure where you're from, but considering what's about to go down soon... You know you don't have to stay here, right?"

Phu nodded in agreement, "Haz is right. We were born in this village, all of our family and friends are here. There's really no need to stick around and risk your life here, y'know?"

Without a single thought, Rentaro muttered, "I don't have a home in this world... Heh, I don't even know where I am, or where I'm going... But as I search, I might as well make a home everywhere I go. That way, life won't be so lonely no matter where I find myself."

The others were shocked, finding themselves at a loss for words.

Breaking the silence, Icrin smiled, "My home is your home."

The others smiled alongside him before repeating the same. After this share of stories, and the revealing of Rentaro's thoughts, everyone felt a bit closer.

Excusing themselves, everyone took to their leave on their own accord. It was time to get training!

Rentaro and Icrin also split off as Rentaro mused his next plan of action.

He, Roy, Kyon, and Wilhelm had work to get done. He also had to check his stats, mainly to review the rewards from his recently completed missions. And so Rentaro left to one of the training fields, rather than returning home with Icrin.

Rentaro yelled aloud, "System Missions!"

The pre-recorded voice followed:

[Missions]

*

[First Hunt] [Uncommon]—[Complete]

Hunt a Foundation Establishment Stage 1 Beast.

[Rewards] [2.0 credits of one credit type or 1.0 of each] [Sub-Shop Function—Trade-In]

*

[Investigate the Strange Anomaly] [Uncommon]—[Complete]

[Rewards] [3.0 credits of on credit type or 1.5 of each] [Sub-Mission Function—Research and Investigations]

*

'Collect all rewards, split credits towards each type.' Rentaro thought in his mind this time.

[Rewards Collected]

'Great, display stats.'

* * *

Name: Rentaro Eccel

Race: Human

Contracts: 2

Cultivation Stage: Affinity Foundation Stage 4

Elemental Affinities:

Fire - Assimilation

Dark - Assimilation

Light - Assimilation

Wind - Embryonic

Credit Balance:

[Syndicate Credits: 14]

[Spatial Credits: 14]

Innate Talents:

[Summoner]

[Paktierer]

[Elementalist]

[Extrasensory Perception]

[Spirit Whisperer]

* * *

Rentaro nodded happily. After forming a soul contract with Kyon, he awakened an elemental affinity to the wind element. How would this affect his foundations in the future, he wondered.

Paying no further mind, he summoned Roy and Kyon.

"Second brother!" Roy exclaimed.

"Haha. Finally, helping your elder out to get a breath of fresh air!" Kyon remarked.

Rentaro's eyes were without the usual playfulness, calling out, "Kyon!"

"Eh? Why so serious all of a sudden?"

"Kyon, please train Roy and I. Wilhelm's given us some pointers here and there, but I need more authentic training."

Roy backed away, grumbling, "Don't I get a say in this?"

Thankfully for Roy, Kyon shook his head in disagreement, "Rentaro, if we're talking about combat training, there's only so much you can achieve in the little time before disaster strikes the village. The most efficient way to progress right now would be to consolidate your elemental affinities."

Rentaro nodded his head in agreement, though his eyes expressed his disarray.

Kyon took notice of his glance, giving an exasperated sigh, "Alright, here's what we're gonna do. Thanks to our soul contract, we can see each other's memories. Likewise, we can send specific memories to one another. Here, just take a deep breath and focus on the message I'm trying to convey to you. Everything will be explained."

Rentaro closed his eyes in response, feeling a strange fluttering within. There was a calling, and in his focus he instinctively accepted it.

Now in his mind, he saw a strange scene. No, it wasn't a strange scene, but a memory shared by Kyon.

In Rentaro's vision were nine graceful palaces, all floating amidst the beautiful puffs of white clouds in the boundless blue sky. Each palace released the cyan energy of the wind element, all of which moved in the same direction.

Rentaro's gaze followed the moving energies, leading to an even grander sight! There was a cloud shining in a resplendent gold, and growing atop the cloud was an azure tree that towered beyond his sight.

The memory ended abruptly with the astonishing sight. Pulled back to reality, he looked at Kyon in a daze.

Roy was also looking at Kyon with the same expression, clearly shown the same memory.

In a bragging tone, "Hmph, Impressive, right? For my Foundation Establishment, rather than going from the size of a pond to the size of an ocean, I decided to form a simple building for each stage. Then, I nourished each building until they reached the grandeur of a palace."

"Upon reaching Foundation Establishment Stage 9 and breaking into Core Formation, the wind energies from each palace combined to form a cloud alongside a seed, soon sprouting a tree."

"Rather than restrict yourself to a method, you should decide for yourself how your cultivation will progress. What will your foundations combine into? I'm truly looking forward to seeing it in the future." Kyon smiled mysteriously alongside his wizened gaze.

Rentaro nodded absentmindedly. Having four elemental affinities, he hadn't even checked what they looked like in his dantian. Considering such, he closed his eyes before finally looking into his dantian.

Inside were a mass of four small blobs. The red energy of fire, gold of light, purple of darkness, and the cyan wind element. Comparing these four small blobs that seemed to be in a raw state to Kyon's grand palaces—Rentaro could only shake his head in embarrassment.

At the same time, his mind surged with various ideas, 'If I'm going to form nine elemental affinities, then maybe I could form something even more miraculous than Kyon's palaces.....'

Similar to Kyon, Rentaro urged the cyan wind energy to form into greyish-white clouds. Then, the light energy formed into a dim sun that hung overhead, while the dark energy formed into a dark moon. Lastly, the fire energy took on the appearance of a fiery volcano, without the fiery part though.

Among the four creations, the cloud was the smallest with his affinity with the wind element being the weakest.

All four creations were merely in their beginning state, lacking the wondrous lusters of life. 'One day,' Rentaro's eyes glowed, 'One day the cloud will breathe life. The sun will give off a resplendent warmth, the moon will give off a gentle glow in the night, and the volcano will erupt with a fiery lava as it fertilizes the soils. Of course, there's no soil yet, but one day I'm sure of it!'

Rentaro smiled while he felt an ambitious drive bubbling within him, considering how he'd set up his future affinities, 'Maybe I could create a small world of my own within my dantian one day.'

He took one final glance, musing, 'Seeing the volcano floating around like the cloud... It's a bit off. '

Waking up, Roy shouted in excitement, "Second Brother! In my dantian, I formed four different versions of myself! Each one is entirely made of one specific element!"

Roy's eyes were like tiny crescents, giving rise to Rentaro's laughter.

Wilhelm's voice suddenly followed in their minds, "Honestly, I don't think I can assist you two in cultivation. Kyon, I'll need your guidance in the future as well."

"Of course, kiddo. Though I can't help but wonder, which of us is older?" Kyon scratched his chin.

While the two older ones were making a pact of sorts, Rentaro and Roy started practicing in the field.

As Rentaro utilized his fire energy, a fireball quickly took form, much faster than previously. Furthermore, the fire burned with a much more intense heat.

The golden energy of light followed, forming into a shield. It was not only more durable, but it possessed an aura that felt... holy. Then came an arrow of darkness! As it shot out it consumed all the surrounding light, blotting out even the sky!

As for the wind element, Rentaro decided to hold off on casting it for now. He hoped to learn more from Kyon in the future. Maybe even learn some proper techniques.

As of now, he was merely utilizing his internal energy, as well as the surrounding energies through the use of the Grimoire of Twilight.

Roy sounded out in applause, calling for attention, "Second Brother! My turn!"

Accompanying his shouting, Roy's body changed in color, while all four of his eyes burned red. Soon he transitioned entirely to gold, his scales shimmering like royalty before turning a dark purple. His fourth transformation of the cyan energy of wind caused his body to take on a cyan hue.

Kyon and Wilhelm were struck with awe.

Wilhelm said, "Being a chimera, his foundation establishment causes such great changes. His body can either accompany all or a select amount of elements at once, even taking on one element purely."

Essentially, Roy could alter his body's element at will, as long as he had an affinity with said element of course.

The gains of consolidating the elemental affinities were much greater than Rentaro had expected.

Next, it was time to move on to checking out the two new system functions: [Sub-Shop Function—Trade-In] and [Sub-Mission Function—Research and Investigations].