Chapter 43: The Anomaly: Aether
’Wait a moment! What about myself? I have a sword physique, which is good, and with my current abilities, I am a swordsman, under warrior... But what is my Element?’ He thought, holding his jaw, staring at Sara who finally turned towards him, then pointed at the notebook. The realization hit him out of nowhere; he had been so focused on learning the rules of the Awakened world that he hadn’t stopped to figure out where he fit into it.
Asher pushed the book towards her, and watched as she wrote down on it, her pen gliding smoothly over the paper, then pushed it towards him:
["What is your element?"]
The exact question he was asking himself; without knowing his element, he won’t know his advantage and disadvantage. In a world defined by elemental rock-paper-scissors, going into battle blind to your own affinity was a death sentence.
Asher took the book, and wrote down on it, passing it to her.
["I don’t think I have any element... I don’t feel anything."]
Sara read the words, and turned to him, a slight frown forming on her face. There hasn’t been any news of anyone awakening without any Element, this was new. Even the weakest F-Rank possessed a flicker of elemental alignment; to have absolutely nothing was biologically impossible for an Awakened.
She turned back to the book, and wrote down on it, passing it to him again. Asher took the book, staring at the words on it;
["Close your eyes, sense your spirit energy, and try to unleash it; your element will manifest itself."]
He stared at the words, then looked up at her. Sara gave him a small nod, silently encouraging him to focus inward and find the spark that every warrior possessed.
Asher exhaled, and closed his eyes, trying his best to sense his energy, but he felt nothing... Nothing. There was no flowing river of power, no burning core, just an empty, absolute stillness inside his spiritual center.
"I can’t sense..." He paused, his voice trailing off in frustration. He took the notebook and wrote on it, handing it to her.
["I can’t sense my spirit energy."]
Sara blinked, dumbfounded for the first time. Her vast knowledge of the Awakened world suddenly hit a brick wall.
Asher was also confused. He could use all his abilities and skills, wasn’t that spirit energy at work? When he hadn’t gotten the system, back when he was the weakest child of the Starfire family, he could feel his meager energy, but now, he couldn’t feel anything.
’Does the system have something to do with this?’ He thought, staring at the confused expression on Sara’s face; he watched as she started writing down again, her usual calm demeanor slightly rattled, and passed him the book.
["But you could use skills, right?"]
He nodded his head. He had just effortlessly dominated the A-Rank monster, and deflected an SSS-Rank assassin.
Sara took the book, and wrote down again, showing him the page.
["Does that mean you can use abilities without spirit energy?"]
He held his jaw: ’That can’t be it, wait, the skills I got from the system, it didn’t say anything about using energy, and my abilities to use weapons higher than my rank, that’s also an anomaly... Am I truly the first awakened without Spirit energy, and I am still able to use skills and abilities that require it? Doesn’t that mean I can use all abilities, and I don’t have any disadvantage because I have no element? System, can you explain this issue?’
He shifted the question to the system:
{With me, Master doesn’t need Spirit energy, because I am your spirit energy.}
"...?!"
{Master also doesn’t have any specific elements, because Master has Aether.}
’Huh? What’s that?’ He thought, completely blindsided by the term, and turned to Sara, asking for the book. If anyone in this world knew what the system was talking about, it was his genius wife.
Sara gave him the notebook, watching as he wrote down three words on it, and handed it to her.
["What is Aether?"]
Asher stared at her stunned expression, silently waiting for her to say something, and after twenty seconds of staring, she finally looked up at him. Her eyes were filled with pity, confusion, and disbelief, which confused Asher. To see such raw emotion break through her usual stoic mask meant this wasn’t just a rare element—it was a myth.
Was Aether an element?
He paused his thoughts as Sara started writing again, her hand trembling ever so slightly as she drafted the lore, and after some seconds, she handed him the book. Asher nodded, reading the words in his mind.
["Aether is the start of spirit energy, it’s the uncommon name. But this energy is the raw, unshaped cosmic energy before it splits into the other ten elements. In short, this energy creates the ten elements, and has dominance over them. For example, take Aether as the Creator of the ten elements, and take Spirit energy as the Switch used to activate the ten elements. Having this energy is akin to having control over the ten elements."]
Asher was stunned, staring at the words on the book. If the system didn’t mention this energy, he wouldn’t even know he has it. He was practically a walking god of creation, bypassing the foundational laws of their reality.
["But this energy is extremely powerful, only by reaching SSS-RANK, can your body withstand its strength... That’s what the scroll said."]
He nodded his head; Sara wasn’t sure of this either. Much of this was based on ancient theory rather than documented fact. And with her words, I am the first to awaken this energy. He lowered his gaze to the remaining words, feeling the immense weight of his new reality.
["With the scroll writing, Aether counters everything: Because Aether is the building block of the elements, it can assert dominance over them. An Aether Awakened can dismantle an opponent’s spell back into raw energy which he or she can absorb, or force their element to submit; and Since it has no elemental weakness, its disadvantage is unknown. But it usually requires astronomical amounts of energy to cast, takes decades to comprehend, or physically destroys the user’s body if they aren’t strong enough to channel it... If you truly have this energy, you must be very careful when using it."]
Asher stared at the last words, letting the severe warning sink in, then looked up at her, meeting her gaze.
’Is she worried about me?’