Chapter 16: The Element of Despair

"It has started." 

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, we need to watch our backs now." 

"Should I warn everyone now? They need to prepare."

"Don't make any decision now. Let us just wait and watch."

Aurelion Emberleaf, the king of elves sighed as he looked at their oracle walking out of the room. It hasn't even been a century and the demons were gaining in numbers again. They also needed to increase their empire so they started infiltrating Celestara but the progress was too slow and he could not afford to send more forces because they had also suffered some consequences of the Vormagor's Calamity. What he needed now was to play safe and gather more power and area. 

'I need to destroy the temple before it's too late!'

Meanwhile in Aetherholm City.

Li Han frowned as he looked at the system.

--

Name: Li Han (Level: 4)

Age: 15

Stats:

Str (Strength): 8

Agi (Agility): 9

Vit (Vitality): 10

Int (Intelligence): 16

Mana: 19

Occupation: Novice Mage

Skills: Fireball, Water Whip, Root Bind

Blessings/Unique Trait:

Gift of the Arcane: quicker mastery and understanding of magical arts.

Quests:

1.) Read all the parts available of Celestrios's Journal to Magic (Progress: 20%) (Rewards: Don't get greedy bish! You will get the knowledge)

Main Story:

Chapter 1: A Wolf Hiding in Sheep's Clothing (Progress: 100%)

Chapter 2: Strike While The Iron Is Still Hot (Progress: 0.01%)

- Eliminate the wounded before the future is altered.

[Rewards: An Advanced Grade Spell of your Affinity.]

[Penalty: ???]

---

The thing that bothered him the most was Chapter 1 was completed by itself, he didn't even do anything or find the person the system referred to as 'wolf'. He didn't check his stats for one day because of their exploration of the ruined city and this happened. And just now Chapter 2 appeared, what did it mean if the future is altered? Is there a predefined future? Who is wounded? Did one of the five survive the wolf attack and is plotting something? Just what is happening suddenly? Is this going to hinder his plans? Countless questions popped into his mind.

The penalty was unknown and an unknown penalty was more scarier than a known one. He had understood how the system worked. To make out the most, one needed to have a very strong personality, a clear goal, and firm determination. That was all it needed to make the quests to fulfill the goal. The only thing that wasn't in his control was the 'Main Story' that popped up suddenly. Chapter 1 didn't give him any rewards, maybe because he never completed it but there was a very ambitious reward for Chapter 2 but he didn't know how to proceed with it without gathering suspicion.

Li Han got up from his bed and went to the balcony. The construction and transportation team were still working diligently and the progress was praiseworthy. He moved his gaze towards the shanties and narrowed his eyes.

He understood one thing and that was to provide them with homes as soon as possible, or they are going to protest. After all, it was their planet but they were getting treated unfairly. Another thing that bugged him was that King Maximus was pretty casual about this matter. It was like he didn't even care for his own people or maybe he was busy with something else.

He moved back inside and saw five thick books on his bed. He had read part 1 and had a basic understanding of mana. He needed to practice it or he will forget but the system was not giving him enough time. He could see several gazes on him and sighed. Li Han had promised to teach the rest of them, he could feel the burden now. He sighed again and picked up the books, making his way out of the mansion and towards the Celestal Haven.

 In the shanties.

'FIND ME AT THE TEMPLE!'

Vaelorian jerked his body off the bed and fell. He could feel the mild pain, he looked around and saw his mom staring at him. He was in her house. 

"The path you will take won't be easy Vaelorian. Though I do not doubt that you will make the right decision without any hesitation but it's going to hurt those around you." She briefly spoke before stopping.

"You saved me," 

"You are my child after all. That's the least I could do." 

"What did you do?"

"Something that I learned when I was young."

"Is everything fine with me now?"

"Are you an idiot? Nothing would be fine with you Vaelorian."

"N-no I meant my meridians...."

"No, they are still destroyed. I just fixed some internal organs of yours. Nothing else, meridians cannot be fixed like that. They are not even visible to the eyes. You must have noticed that when you ripped open Mr Holms." 

"You told me to drink blood."

"You also ate his heart." Victoria stared at her son, "Nevertheless because you drank the blood, you are still alive. His blood replaced the corrupted one otherwise you would have died even when I patched your organs. You cannot digest the corrupted blood. Not yet."

Vaelorian's eyes jerked up to his mom after hearing the last two words.

"Tell me everything before you ask questions." She spoke and so Vaelorian started telling her about Lan Liuyue and their mana contract. Victoria listened to everything quietly and nodded. "Come here,"

Vaelorian got closer to his mother and immediately felt her hand slapping him hard. He fell and his back hit the bedpost. The pain travelled through his body and he inhaled a sharp breath. This was the first time his mother had hit him.

"Never do something you don't know about. If you still do then don't challenge its authority. How dumb can you get?" she spoke in a dangerously low voice.

"You were the one who told me to hang around the house," 

"You are right about that. Do you know why I slapped you?"

"Because I formed a mana contract."

"No!" Victoria grabbed Vaelorian's throat and looked into his eyes, "Always remember this, the only one you can trust is your blood."

She released her grip and sat on the bed. "You won't be able to practice element extraction because one of your meridians is ruptured. I fixed internal organs but I don't have enough power to fix your meridians."

"But I can practice breathing technique?" 

"Yes, you can use your mana bullets but impure mana will still leak like before. You will need blood. After drinking wait for a minute before continuing, don't rush it. And don't even try to extract the element otherwise it might destroy your main meridian."

"Tell me about the dark element."

"Dark element is the impure mana."

Vaelorian's eyes widened as he stared at his mom. He was speechless.

"Very few know this so be careful about who you share this with." Victoria caressed her belly as she spoke, "Humans don't have the capability of extracting the dark element and even if they can, it just destroys their body. It is also called the epitome of evil, the element of despair. It directly affects the mind before traveling through the body. No human ever lived a sane life after extracting the element. Hence the term, demons. Not even a demon can control the dark element, all they can do is control the essence of it. Do you know why you ripped out the heart of Mr Holms? Because your mind is corrupted now."

Vaelorian was rooted in his spot. Was he a demon now?

"You won't turn into a demon. After all, you are just a human, you will die after your body is corrupted. Don't think too much, maybe it's a good thing that your mind is corrupted. You will make decisions without any restrictions now." 

"I heard a voice before I regained consciousness. 'Find me at the temple' was what it said." Vaelorian observed her mom's reaction but there was none.

"Then you should find the temple. I would suggest you work on your mana manipulation before going deeper into the jungle."

'Experimentation' popped into Vaelorian's mind and he nodded looking at his mother. He turned to leave but his mother grabbed his hand. 

"Never trust someone so blindly that their missteps cloak as virtues."