Chapter 296 - Born With The Element
Theo stared at the rock before glancing back at his hand.
’That was almost effortless,’ he thought. ’How amazing...’
For a moment, he simply stood there in silence.
Then another thought crossed his mind.
’’Let’s try something else,’’ he muttered, walking over to another stone.
Slowly crouching down, calamity mana began gathering once more.
Only this time, instead of forming a ball with it, Theo shaped the mana around his finger.
’Here goes nothing,’ he thought, pressing his finger against the stone.
The calamity mana reacted instantly.
Unlike before, there wasn’t even a second of delay.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Dozens of cracks spread across the stone almost instantly.
Before a second had even passed, it faded away like dust once more.
’’That was much faster,’’ he mumbled, nodding slowly. ’’Seems like there’s some loss of effect as it travels through the air then?’’
That was the only explanation he had for the difference.
Theo tried several times more, getting the same result each time.
But as he continued testing, a strange expression gradually started forming on his face.
’Wait a minute,’ he thought. ’Something’s... different.’
He barely felt his mana drain away while forming these attacks.
Sure, his mana had increased immensely. But that wasn’t what he was thinking about.
’I’m not following a set spell,’ he thought. ’Yet, I feel like I’m wasting nearly no mana.’
That wasn’t normal in the slightest.
Normally, when he wasn’t following a set spell, he could feel a small amount of mana slipping away while gathering it, then another portion while shaping it outside his body.
It wasn’t as much as others would waste.
But it was always there to bother him.
This time... he felt almost nothing.
’Feng?’ Theo called internally. ’Am I imagining things?’
The Wind Kirin remained silent for a brief moment.
"No, Contractor," Feng finally replied. "It would appear your breakthrough affected your body far more than normal."
Theo’s eyes widened slightly as he glanced down.
’’As you said,’’ it continued. ’’Humans normally lose their mana twice while casting without spells. The first inside the body and the second outside.’’
Feng paused for a moment, searching for the right words.
’’After you reached gold core, it seems your body, mind and senses all underwent a great transformation,’’ it finally said. ’’The first loss... has completely disappeared.’’
Theo remained silent as he digested the words.
’Completely disappeared...?’ he thought.
That alone was already unbelievable.
But before he could even ask a question, Feng continued.
’’As for the second... your control has improved considerably as well. Your Water, Lightning and Chaos affinities still waste some mana while being shaped.’’
It paused once more.
’’But this new affinity is different.’’
’’It’s almost as though it were born alongside your body.’’
Theo slowly glanced down at the black mana dancing between his fingertips.
With just a thought, he could thin it down into countless tiny strands.
And with another, he could easily form a dozen sword shapes.
’I think I understand what you mean,’ he said internally.
A strange feeling ran through him as he closed his eyes.
It truly felt different... relaxing almost.
Black mana continued rushing out of his body, gathering up around him.
As he opened his eyes again, he found himself several yards down inside a large crater.
Everything around him had completely disappeared while he’d been immersed in the calamity mana.
Theo silently looked around.
For some reason, there wasn’t even the slightest hint of surprise in his heart.
Yet, at the same time, that scared him a lot.
’Why am I so calm?’ he thought.
If one of his other affinities had unintentionally erased everything within several yards of him, he would’ve at least been a bit shocked.
Yet now... his heartbeat hadn’t even changed.
Theo let out a slow breath, causing the last traces of black mana to fade away.
’I changed my mind,’ he thought. ’I’m definitely going to use this more inside Petra.’
As long as no strangers were around, that is.
Theo glanced at the crater one final time before merging back inside the shadows.
Whoosh!
His shadow rapidly shot back towards the camp.
Only two minutes later, he silently materialized back inside his tent.
He remained silent for a few seconds, making sure everyone was truly still asleep.
Only then did he finally let out a quiet breath.
’Just one more thing before I go to bed,’ he thought, lying down inside his sleeping bag.
A familiar manual flickered into existence inside his hand.
He immediately opened it and flipped towards the middle section.
’Divine Thunder Storm’s gold core stage.’
A large smile grew on Theo’s face as he read through it.
’It’s finally time for the lightning domain,’ he thought. ’Hopefully, it won’t take me too long to learn.’
...
Hours flew by.
In that time, some slept peacefully, some held guard duty, and others were busy with their own plans regardless.
Fortunately, the night passed without any unexpected incidents.
By the time the first rays of sunlight appeared across the horizon, Theo and the others had already woken up.
After quickly putting their stuff back inside his spatial ring, they joined the others near the edge of the rock formation.
It didn’t take long before everyone was ready.
’’Stay really close today,’’ Nadia reminded them before turning towards the desert. ’’And remember what I told you yesterday.’’
Nobody needed another warning.
No matter how arrogant one was, after seeing the gruesome death the day before, many weren’t willing to risk it.
They quickly continued through the desert in one thin formation, occasionally killing a lone creature.
But gradually, the landscape began to change.
The dunes became flatter, while the number of creatures around them rapidly decreased.
Before long, they noticed a massive red and black figure in the distance.
Everyone froze in place immediately.
’A Fire Ant,’ Theo thought, eyes narrowing. ’And a B-rank too.’
That wasn’t the worst, though.
Surrounding it were half-molten corpses, some damaged so badly it was hard to tell if they were even human or not.
But from the weapons and pieces of armor that were scattered amongst them... everyone knew they were indeed humans.
’’That group must’ve accidentally had someone fall into a burrow,’’ Nadia said quietly. ’’Take in that sight, because if any one of us falls in, we’ll end up the same.’’
Expressions darkened left and right while some swallowed heavily.
Nadia wasn’t bothered in the slightest, though.
’’We’ll wait here until the Fire Ant is underground again,’’ she continued. ’’No reason to attract the thousands more below either...’’