Ezra began frequenting the royal library, as he had in his infant years, and consulting Mr. Lennon about constant matters.
For one, he increased the number of cores along his mana stream for better control.
It dawned on him that much of his potential remained locked.
The goal was to unlock it all.
He would do so with knowledge.
He dug deep about how his elements could be used and their weaknesses.
Then, he read on beasts, so as to know how to handle the beast when it hatched - only to discover that he'd missed something crucial.
'Beasts are not born with inherent affinities. It is decided by the environment the grow up in for their first few years'
Meaning that snakes born from an ice snake living in a desert would grow up to have an affinity with sand rather than ice.
It was an inbuilt survival mechanism, allowing for better adaptation.
It was also why most beasts didn't leave the vicinity of where they'd been born.
Like this Ezra figured that his egg was swimming in mana stone and had hence developed superb mana control.
Reading further, he found out that, when taking a beast as pets, one would keep it in an environment that would allow it to develop the same element as its owner.
Ezra was stumped as he had five. Which one was he to give the snake?
He didn't really need it as a battle partner as Ezra felt he himself was more than sufficient.
Another thing was that the color of an animal's skin sometimes indicated their affinity.
So, what color would he want his snake to have?
It was too easy a question.
'Black'
And that decided the element.
'Darkness'
So Ezra took out the egg - alongside a few mana stones - and placed them beside him.
With a S-rank Darkness affinity, Ezra could see just fine in the dark.
He had no qualms keeping his chamber pitch black all the time.
Time passed, and he wondered…
'Can't it have two elements?'
The books gave no clue of such scenarios, but Ezra wanted to try.
So, each night, he would hold the egg while bursting with lightning.
Whatever happened, he could live with it.
If the snake looked hideous, or was a drag, he could simply get rid of it.
Two months passed and Ezra was starting to get annoyed with not being able to cultivate, so he decided to give it a try.
Lo and behold, his body absorbed it hungrily, leaving him in utter confusion.
A few nudges here and there revealed that, after advancing, his mana pool took time to expand, temporarily halting cultivation.
It had settled after the first month, Ezra just never checked.
Facepalming, he began cultivation.
Here, his Mindless Cultivation technique showed its use.
He didn't have to sit to cultivate, no, he didn't even have to intentionally cultivate.
Just placing a mana stone in his mouth would facilitate the process, and Ezra could just sit back.
While it was definitely slower than the traditional method, the fact that it went on twenty-four hours of every day without needing to stop - while of course, Ezra trained, read or slept - made it a far better method.
If anything, Ezra reviewed the Infinite Forms Art over and over again.
He was constantly improving it as his mastery evolved.
In the next two months, he cut down the movements to sixty.
After that, Ezra added more as he sought to break far past the previous him.
His swordsmanship had increased, but only slightly. He was looking to break that wall and advance his swordsmanship explosively.
When swinging and repeating the technique hundreds of times didn't seem to be taking him anywhere, Ezra began learning a different weapon.
Throwing weapons.
From needles to small stars and daggers, Ezra threw them all.
And soon, he began using his elements to do it.
He'd make the weapon with his blood, then freeze it with the ice element before throwing it.
This too started a string of failures as the blood splattered about because the ice was weak and improper timing.
He increased his dosage of training, abandoning swordsmanship temporarily and making sure to throw no less than three hundred weapons every day.
As the failures grew, so did the successes.
At the point where he could hit at least four out every ten, he deemed it enough to use in battle and stopped.
He took the sword again and began from the basics once more.
He did at least two thousand swings every day.
His hands wore out fast, but his proficiency rose just as fast.
Bard helped with healing potions, allowing Ezra to wash away fatigue that would've kept him in bed for days otherwise.
He also didn't visit his mother, as he knew how she would react if she saw his hands.
Meanwhile, Fredrick didn't forget to communicate the ongoing of Black Jaws and the outside world to him.
The war was still ongoing, and at this point, it had wrought devastation to every power involved.
Niton gained significant ground in Itrevezar, Iris and Quartez. It went ahead and began plundering all they could.
The Emperor didn't even consider retreat, only advancement, and while it had its shares of bad times, it paid off in the long term.
They had penetrated every power sharing border with them, with the three above being those who took the most damage.
They caught so many war prisoners that new cells were being constructed daily.
In any case, so many war prisoners made slaves very cheap when compared to before the war.
Black Jaws created a new subsidiary work just for them - to be dissolved once the war was over.
Buying thousands of slaves, the skyscraper was completed five months ago.
What remained was fitting the internals, and even that would soon be finished.
Other projects followed smoothly as every village bought had been transformed.
Sadly, the people found themselves not living the dream.
Rather, now they paid rent for their houses and worked for underpaid wages as an influence of the war. Far too many people were looking for jobs.
On the other hand, Black Jaws was having the best time.
With multiple thousands, they were able to achieve what others never imagined in years - in a few months!
Having bought land in Qunchester and a few others, a company of sailors was being made. Black Jaws would soon be going to other continents.
Cabrera had advanced to late Expert-rank.
Many other guild members had become Advanced-ranks, with a few Expert-ranks.
To sharpen them, Black Jaws sent them to join the war led by Cabrera, who sought to become a Master.
Clad in the best of armors and equipped with skills from high rank combat manuals, their chances of dying were small.
Kron lay amongst them, also as an early Expert-rank.
Then, Sebastian had gone through trials of his own.
Over the past months, assassins had come to take the heads of Black Jaws's upper echelon.
The last attempt happened at the end 1708 - last year. It was a Master-rank assassin.
Thanks to Fredrick, they managed to survive, but the humiliation and frustration hit them hard. It tempered their will to grow stronger.
Sebastian had been training in the arts of assassination for months, and so where the information agents.
Someone had exposed their ploy of using beggars to track information, so they couldn't be left to roam without being able to fight.
What no one knew was that Fredrick had gone to war as well - he hid with Cabrera - to fish out the mastermind behind the enemy attack and put an end to them.
As that happened, Andras Halobren, Mirahan and Nathan were left to manage finances and they achieved every objective set by Fredrick.
But none compared to the last pieces of information given by Fredrick.
Some children beggars (their informants) had been abducted and found dead. The bodies had turned black with the eyes missing and no blood remaining.
It was a gruesome outcome, but Ezra was far more concerned, for he knew something they did not.
There was but one group who did such acts.
'Demon worshippers!'
And their name had Ezra gritting his teeth and clenching his fists in utter fury.
'So…those b#stards had been active far before 'it' happened?!'
He held his head in worry.
'Just how much of the future do I not know' he wondered.
Or…
'Was it because of me?'
That was an even more dreadful thought.
He now had another reason to grow stronger.
It seemed Orion would fall into hell far sooner than before.
He made finding out more about the circumstances of the dead beggars Sebastian's top priority.
He had to catch the tail of the organization at the forefront of the apocalypse.
'Red Spawn' the name alone had him furious.
'I won't let you do as wish this time around'
Clenching his fists, he went back to training with even more purpose.
-Russell-
In his palace, Gaga chewed on his nail with a calm expression.
In his hands was an artifact, one given to him years ago by…someone he'd rather not recall.
Wiping the surface, his eyes had reddened.
'What should I do?' he wondered.
On one hand, his nation was heading to destruction, eaten up by the internal and external strife.
On the other hand, accepting help from such a force would be turning his back on mankind, and more importantly, he'd be throwing away his pride and dignity.
So…
'Was it worth it?'
His forehead creased. The strings of hair on his head seeming to have gotten paler.
Here he was, Russell's guardian and king, looking all weak and pathetic.
He chuckled dejectedly.
'Time will change any man'
He found the title funny these days. He was but an old man who couldn't seem to catch a break.
'How I wish you were here Selina' he sighed.
If she was here, then certainly she'd know what to do…she always did have an answer to his problems.
The memories of his wife only broke him further.
And in that instant…
*Clak*
He made a choice and activated the artifact.
Red mist came from it and, from that, rang a voice.
"Oh? OH!" the voice gasped, before settling in a tone reeking with malice.
"So, you have thought things through?"
"I'd rather keep this short"
"As do I"
"What can you offer me?"
"Hmm?"
"How can you help me?"
A precedent was set on this day. A catalyst for something Orion had never seen.
Well, someone had seen it.
But would he be enough to make a difference?
Let's all wait and see. (Evil Grin)
