Elydes Chapter 69: Difficult Choices

Chapter 69 - Difficult Choices

No, there were no shortcuts. To replenish his reserves, Kai had to absorb the motes of elental mana one by one.

He expelled about a tenth of his neutral mana to make room for attuned motes. Then he began patiently gathering Nature mana which was the most abundant in the garden. If he kept it close to his body, it would naturally get absorbed after a while. To speed up the process he couldusing Doras wordsimpose his will on the mana.

How the heck do I do that?

You need clear and focused intentions. Imagine exactly what you want to happen and will it into reality. Believe it is the only possible outco. Dora explained again.

All his senses and thoughts were focused on the task. He gritted his teeth staring intensely at the minuscule green particle in his hand. Pinning his will against it.

You dont need to tense your muscles. Its about your mind and will, not your body.

He knew Dora was only trying to help, but the frustration of the task, mixed with her vague instructions, was starting to make him moody.

The Nature mote finally joined his internal mana. It had taken around 30 seconds, several tis faster than waiting for his body to absorb it passively. The problem was he was only working on a single mote at a ti. At this rate, it would take a lifeti to replenish his reserves.

He had used hundreds of mana specks to make the seed grow. It was far easier to gather as many as he could control and keep them close to his skin, but Dora insisted this thod was better in the long run.

Good try. Youre improving.

That was the sa ti as the last three. Maybe a bit worse.

Relax your body, you only need your mind. Dora continued with a pleasant voice.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves and use ditation, Kai pushed the exasperation out of his mind.

With a quick scan of Mana Sense, he found a green mote twirling in the grass at his side. When his hand moved to intercept it, its carefree and vibrant dance ca to a standstill, struggling against his will. It was only a question of ti before he won, but it took too long.

This isnt working.

Kai relaxed his grip, letting the Nature mana move freely within an inch of his skin.

Co on, we can be free together.

He imagined the tiny green mote joining the mana flow of his veins, happily swirling inside his body. Its movents turned hesitant.

Be free with .

With a fluid motion, the mote flew into his skin. A grin spread on his face. How long did it take?

Just 20 seconds. It seems you found your thod.

Now that I know what to do, I can probably cut it down to 15 seconds.

Why didnt you tell there was an easier thod? Kai glanced at Dora. Finding out for himself was satisfying, but he would have liked a warning that there was a better approach.

There is no best way to go at it. Just thods that suit you and thods that dont.

Dora waved her hand through the air summoning a swarm of Nature mana, it danced around her hand before taking a sharp turn and joining her mana veins.

I didnt want to confuse you. I planned to bring it out in a few lessons if your progress stalled. Imposing your will on mana is considered the easiest thod. Its simple and straightforward and, more importantly, it works with all elental types of mana. To get better at it, you only need to refine your will.

Gathering another flock of Nature mana, Dora made it dance between her fingers before it started flowing into her mana veins with joyful twirls.

Persuading mana to join you is an advanced technique. You need to understand what the mana wants and offer it in a convincing manner. To improve, strength isnt enough, you need a different understanding for each elent.

Both are viable options. You need to find which suits you best and keep in mind the thod you choose doesnt need to be the sa for each elent.

Kai looked fascinated at her demonstration. He wanted to ask how long it was going to take to learn that, but he stopped himself.

As long as there is a way, Ill get there. No matter how long it takes.

Co on, we still have an hour before lunch. Enough ti for one more spell.

A few rays of sunlight seeped through the shade of the trees as they got to work. While he learned how to refine his technique, Dora gathered a horde of Nature Mana around him to help him.

Dont get distracted, just focus on your task.

With her help, he easily converted enough mana for another Nature spell. Dora led him to a wilting silver hibiscus. The plant had seen better days: its red flowers with silver pistils sadly flopped downwards, while the leaves had a sickly green color.

Following his teachers instructions, Kai prepared to cast his mana. He could just chuck his Nature mana inside the plant, it would work but it wasnt very efficient. The clearer and more targeted his intentions were, the more effective his spell would be. Scanning the plant, he discovered so critters must have feasted on many of its roots.

He needed to speed up the plant's healing process and help it absorb more nutrients to make up for what it lost. Gathering his mana in his hand, Kai focused on what he wanted his spell to do and let go of its mana.

The vibrant green mana left his hand and spread through the plants, particularly around its roots. In a few seconds, its flowers gained new life, while the leaves beca a healthy green color. It reminded Kai of one of those hours-long footages sped up to a few minutes. By the end of it, the hibiscus looked much better.

He turned to Dora, who was carefully examining the plant with a critical eye. There is still room for improvent, the roots could have used more care, but its a good first try. You did well.

Kai smiled at the complint.

They took a small break for lunch before resuming their lesson. He noticed a marked improvent in his Nature and Water magic as he understood how to properly imprint his intention on the spell. Earth was going slower, but it wasnt far behind.

At dinner ti, Dora went back to the kitchen, giving him a small breather. A notification began pinging in the corner of his vision hours ago. With so trepidation, Kai gave the go-ahead.

Ti to get my grades.

A slew of notifications flashed in his vision.

*Ding*

New skill added to the Archive! Nature Magic (lv1) Mold the ever-growing Nature mana to your desires and tune yourself with the silent thriving world.

*Ding*

New skill added to the Archive! Water Magic (lv1) Mold the ever-flowing Water mana to your desires and tune yourself with the fluid water.

*Ding*

New skill added to the Archive! Earth Magic (lv1) Mold the ever-steady Earth mana to your desires and tune yourself with the land.

I cant believe I got all three.

Kai was basking in his own success when a terrible realization hit him.

Im never going to have enough skill slots for all of them. And I still have to gain Space and Shadow skills

He imdiately knew so not-very-pleasant choices awaited him. Steeling his resolve, he summoned his status.

Skills:

Running (lv89>93)Swimming (lv89>93)ditation (lv72>75 Max)Herbology (lv70>74)Awareness (lv68>71)Acting (lv55>56)Processing Plants (lv49>54)Swordsmanship (lv36>45)

Mana Sense(lv49>54)Mana Manipulation (lv22>27)Inspect (lv17>20)Alchemy (lv16>19)Empower (lv11>16)Runes (lv3>7)

It had been almost two months since the ritual, and he had not slacked off a single day. He admired the results of his effort with great satisfaction. Both Mana Sense and Manipulation were his highest skills, but they still grew considerably. Two years ago, he only had one orange skill, now he had six soon-to-be more.

He had co a long way. Speaking of which, he had been waiting to specialize ditation to get a better option. After todays lesson, he was confident he had it.

ditation (lv75)

As you reach the second milestone, you are presented with three choices to continue your journey:

Stay the course on your current path. You wont gain new significant benefits, but youll deepen the insight into your path. Determined to have a serene and calm mind, follow a path to give you better control of your disruptive emotions. Having touched the mysteries of the Essence of the World, delve deeper. Attune yourself to elental mana types surrounding you.

Yessss!

Without hesitation, Kai selected the last option.

*Ding*

You chose to harmonize with the elents, ditation (lv75)can now reach lv100.

Unfortunately, this was where the good news ended. He couldnt avoid the problem forever.

Discarding any of his orange skills was not even worth considering. Each one of them offered unique benefits he couldnt do without.

His gaze moved to his red skills. His heart ached, but he had to make a decision. Mana Manipulation helped with elental magic too, but it was only marginal compared to having a specialized skill. Dora had told him of the possibility to evolve Mana Manipulation to help with elental mana, but that was far off in the future and it wouldnt be as good.

No point commiserating. I need to think logically.

He excluded ditation, Acting and Swordsmanship. Those were as important as his orange skills. Swimming and Running were getting closer to lv100, but they werent there yet. He could almost see the finish line and was committed to reaching it.

There werent many choices left.

Herbology, Awareness and Processing Plants

Even if he counted two skill slots with Swimming and Running, he needed at least one more.

Spirits help , I hate this.

The first skill on the list was Herbology.

Do I need it? Heck yeah. No shot I can rember everything without it.

If he ditched Herbology, his Alchemy would also be crippled. It wasnt a choice he was willing to consider. Potions were his main source of inco that wasnt likely to change for the near future. To not even talk about how it would upset Dorawho was also his magic teacher.

Next up on the gallows was Awareness. It wasnt his favorite skill by far, a lot of bad mories were linked to it. However, it also saved his life a couple tis or at least avoided a beating. He wasnt going to always stay at the estate and having a sixth sense to warn him when he attracted the wrong type of attention was invaluable. Maybe he would not keep it forever, but it wasnt too far off from lv100.

This left only one option. Kai sighed. Gathering his courage, he marched to the kitchen. He should at least warn Dora before going through with it.

He could hear her humming and a delicious sll wafting from inside. Kai stopped at the threshold and knocked on the kitchen door. More to bar any way out than to alert the alchemist to his presence.

Too late to back out now.

What is it, Kai? There are still a few minutes before dinner is ready. Dora looked over her shoulder with an interrogative expression.

Ehm I got offered the elental magic skills and decided to discard Processing Plants. He said all in one breath, staring at the woman to see her reaction.

Okay, go ahead. Just be careful of the side effects. She continued to cook.

Kai remained standing awkwardly by the door. Is it really okay?

Putting down a wooden spoon, Dora turned towards him. Kai. She sat down at the table and gestured for him to do the sa.

Almost tripping on his feet, Kai grabbed a chair. His fingers began tapping on the wood nervously.

Every teacher would like to see their pupil follow in their footsteps, but its your life. She softened her tone. Im sorry if I made you feel pressured. It wasnt my intention. You should choose whatever makes you happy. If you want to stop learn alchemy, you just need to tell , and well focus on your interests.

Kai felt his eyes itch a little. Okay He muttered in a tiny voice.

Damn, idiot. Is that all you can say?

but I still want to do alchemy. He hurried to add.

Dora smiled, there was no need to say anything else. Co on, its better if you get it over before dinner. Trust , you dont want to abandon a skill with a full stomach.

Kai nodded weakly.

*Ding*

Do you wish to discard Processing Plants (lv54)? Be aware this choice is irreversible.

It was the highest-level skill he ever abandoned.

Yes.

Vertigo hit him imdiately. His face fell flat upon the polished wood of the table. He would have fallen over if Dora hadnt helped him in his seat.

Dont worry, its going to pass soon. She patted him on the back.

Kai didnt have the strength to put a thought together, much less answer her. After a few seconds, it gradually got better. A feeling of dizziness remained, but he was slowly regaining control of his limbs.

He thought the worst was over when a wave of nausea made him retch. He quickly staggered out of the kitchen.

Are you fine? Do you need help? Dora asked worried.

Im, A new retch interrupted him. Fine!

As soon as he stepped on the grass outside, he fell kneeling on the ground. Thank the spirits his last al had been several hours ago. That was the only reason he didnt vomit, but he could feel the acrid taste of stomach acid in his mouth.

He laid on the ground for several minutes.

And it wasnt even an orange skill

Dinner is ready! Doras voice called from inside.

Leaning against the wall of the house, Kai recomposed himself as best he could, dusting off his clothes and passing a hand through his short hair. His balance was ssed up and the idea of eating anything made him retch again.

Im coming.

With the most dignified appearance he could manage, he went back to the kitchen trying to walk straight. As soon as he stepped inside, Dora offered him a glass filled with a cold transparent green liquid.

Take here. This will help.

Kai eyed it suspiciously. The briefest glance with Mana Sense, and the lemony sll, confird it was not a potion. It easily went down his throat, getting rid of the terrible taste in his mouth and helping his belly settle down.

Dora put a plate of boiled vegetables and plain rice in front of him. Better to keep it light.

He wasnt even upset, the worst symptoms were gone, but a sense of wrongness still pervaded him. A piece of himself was missing and there was no getting used to that.

One bite at a ti, Kai swallowed everything. Will it be a problem to practice Alchemy, now that I dont have Processing Plants anymore? He still felt a bit guilty, no matter what Dora said.

Dont worry. The Alchemy skill mainly focuses on the brewing process, but it also coins bits of everything else that goes through creating a successful concoction. Preparing the ingredients will be harder and your hands wont be as dextrous, but your muscle mory isnt gone. Youll need practice more, especially with new ingredients and techniques.

A weight was lifted from his mind. There was one more choice to make.

Which elent should I choose?

Dora smiled. The one that you like more.

Kai groaned.