"Sigh…" Ezra shook his head.
'There has to be a way'
It was an opportunity too good to pass up.
Shaking off the negativity, he brainstorms.
The first step to solving a problem was understanding it.
'How can I cultivate Element and Physique, and have enough time to practice?'
Cultivation was a time churning endeavor, so was any sort of practice.
He thought of something.
'Isn't there a way to combine all three?'
He huffed, the impossibility of his ambitions evident.
'There has to be a way. I just need to find it'
He chose to stand fast, casting out the negative thoughts.
First things first, to cultivate both Element and Physique required droves of mana.
For most, it resulted in a mediocre build, wasting years of effort simply because one's mana was limited.
For Ezra, this was not a problem as he had mana stones.
So he began experimenting.
He strapped a mana stone to his palm with torn cloth and drew mana from it into his body.
But he soon discovered a problem
While this method required less concentration, it was too slow.
It took two minutes just for the mana to circulate the meridians. After which, Ezra directed it onto the element orbs.
It was slow, but not too slow.
It would've failed had he been cultivating with atmospheric mana.
As it was a mana stone, the cultivation was still effective.
The next stage…cultivating while practicing.
He stood slowly, taking out his swords.
As he moved, the connection broke, causing the mana circulation to crumble.
In essence, he had to redo the entire process.
'Hmm' Ezra frowned.
'Let's try that again'
And he did, with more precision and concentration…only for history to repeat itself.
With the same thing happening, he changed the approach, trying to understand the problem.
He changed the dynamic of his mana circulation.
Ten days flew by, and Ezra had barely any progress to show for it.
Now, he was sweating profusely.
Frustration had built up and it was heading to a breaking point.
At this point, Ezra took a reproach.
He took a day off from his training and slept.
Waking up, his mind and body were now refreshed.
With a placid mind, he began reevaluating his experiments, analyzing why his attempts failed.
His conclusion…
'I went at this all wrong'
He took too many steps too fast, causing him to make many mistakes and little progress.
He sat down and meditated, clearing his mind, while opening a new outlook on achieving his aim.
'What do I have?'
He began with himself, listing out his possessions.
'Mana stones, weapons, mana techniques, combat manuals, poison elixirs, potions, affinity fruits, that…mana cube? That fits. The snake egg…'
'I guess that's everything'
What did he need to cultivate? Time and mana.
He had mana stones, which solved the problems of mana requirement.
As for the other, he doubted an object capable of affecting time existed.
He laughed at that thought.
'Yet here I am, back in the past'
In any case, he didn't have such a thing.
Then, he broke down his goal into steps.
Ingraining the mana circulation for connecting both Physique and Element was the number one objective.
He began practicing it, holding the mana stone while sitting cross-legged.
Drawing the mana within, he guided it in a different way.
With hundreds of meridians in the body, cleansing it in its entirety was impossible.
Just cleaning the largest one was already difficult.
Ezra brought the mana straight to his chest and connected it to the ice orb. He then went further and connected it to the other orbs, splitting the stream of mana into five.
During this, he accidentally moved them.
Moving the orbs - however little - threw his upper body into chaos. His stomach twisted in agony and his chest compressed, forcing out a heavy breath as Ezra's face was drained of color.
Minutes went by as Ezra groaned, puking blood…again.
He fainted soon after.
He woke up at a time unknown, feeling groggy as he swayed when he tried to stand.
After a few tries, he gave up.
'Let's just stay like this for now'
Facing the ceiling, he shut his eyes, emptying his mind to focus on his internal changes.
'Hmm!' he was immediately alarmed. He could feel his elements slightly easier.
To test, he took out the mana stone, drawing little mana and connecting it to the blue orb.
Upon connecting, his internals descended into chaos once more. This time, it was accompanied with a splitting headache. Thankfully, he didn't spew blood.
With that, he slept, waking four hours later.
He tried to stand, and did so easily.
Stretching his limbs, he yawned and cleared the dirt in his eye, taking a cross legged sitting position once more.
'Let's see what happened'
Looking within, he saw all five orbs floating still.
Before, they arrayed themselves randomly.
They were now arrayed in a circle shape.
Carefully, he connected mana to the ice orb.
Unlike before, his body felt no change.
'Interesting'
He then sent a stream of mana to the other orbs.
Like the first, nothing happened.
Then he began analyzing what changes occurred in his body.
For one, the speed of which he connected the stream of mana to the orbs was faster.
Second, his connection to the elements increased.
Third, he could manifest the elements faster.
'Hmm…' his curiosity peaked.
In quick paces, he arrived at the library.
He dodges Mr. Lennon, heading straight to the shelves. The last thing he needed was another person poking their nose in his affairs.
Flipping pages, he stumbled upon a helpful text soon after.
'Mages ought to shift their element orbs to the center of the chest right at the start of their cultivation journey, as that is when it is easiest'
A memory came to mind.
It was in his past life, a bit after registering in the army. A mage inspected him and said…
'Right at the center? How lucky'
Now he understood.
"My darkness orb was at the center of my heart in my past life"
He read on, meeting a warning section.
'If moved inappropriately, it can lead to death. A high rank mage should be consulted for assistance on such matters'
Ezra immediately thought of abandoning all plans on it.
He knew no high ranked mage he could trust…except one!
'Bard!'
While Ezra couldn't trust him completely, Bard knew about his affinities. Shifting his orbs wouldn't make a difference.
He headed to Bard's place.
—-------------------------
"I see" Bard said.
"You've affirmed achieving Master-rank. So now you want to prepare yourself in advance" Bard nodded while rubbing his beard.
"I may be wrong, but what are my liege's intentions?"
"It is exactly as you've said" Ezra nodded.
Bard's face brightened.
"I'm glad. Your request may be a bit difficult, but not beyond my means. Oh yes, how do you want it arranged?"
"Arranged?"
"As you have five affinities, placing them haphazardly would be utterly catastrophic!"
Ezra nodded in understanding, whereas he knew nothing of the subject.
"What would sir Bard suggest?"
"Lightning, darkness, ice, fire and blood. There aren't many ways to arrange such a volatile bunch"
"Darkness, ice, blood, lightning, fire. Or fire, lightning, blood, ice and darkness, though it's basically the same thing. It's best in that order"
"Why? What's the significance?"
Bard pointed at him.
"Unlike most, you awakened a set of unfamiliar elements. Others awaken theirs in pairs. Light and Darkness, Fire and Ice, Lightning and Earth. These are pairs, stark opposites"
"More so, is that I've only ever heard of quadruple affinities. Talent of your scale has not been heard of since the golden age" he shook his head.
"In all cases, you are unique"
"More importantly, it needs to be arranged to maintain balance. Darkness relates with Ice, both are calm but deadly forces. Fire signals fury and so does lightning, whereas blood holds all and holds nothing. It can be furious, calm, swiftly or heavy. All that matters is the will of its user"
"Imbalance, such as placing lightning next to ice would cause friction as both sides fight for dominance. And from that friction would emerge a disaster"
Bard clapped.
"Enough of that. I believe you have other matters to attend to. Shall we begin?"
"Surely. What am I to do?"
"Take off your shirt and sit. I'll be right with you"
Bard left to the underground compartment.
—------------------
"I apologize for the delay" Bard handed Ezra four potions. One black, another blue, then red, and the last one was deep red.
"These will smoothen the process. Red is for fire and dark red is for Blood. Blue is for ice and Black is for Darkness"
"Ok"
"Also take this" Bard handed him a leaf, one that crackled.
'Lightning leaf!' Ezra was shocked. He realized that Bard wasn't a card to push away.
'He's very resourceful'
"Take it one at a time in the predetermined order"
"Why can't I move them all at once?"
"Of course not, they're different!" Bard shouted.
"They have different actions and reactions to movements! To move them all at once…he'd be lucky to not end up crippled"
"Is that so…" Ezra rubbed his neck.
He took a good look at the items, then at Bard.
"What happens now?"
"You focus on keeping yourself steady while I shift your orbs in place"
Gulping down the black potion, Ezra felt euphoric.
"What if I decide to do it without your help?"
"I can't say, but it is something I do not recommend"
"Then…let's begin"
"Fuu…" Bard exhaled.
"Relax" said Bard as he held Ezra's shoulders.
"Concentrate" his palm lit up with blue light.
Ezra quivered, his mana flaring up in response.
Mana weaved like a seam and latched on to the darkness orb.
'Huu…'
Ezra pushed his focus to the max, watching Bard closely.
One could never be sure of who was the friend and who was the enemy.
