Chapitre 2: Chapter 2 - Master.
It was now evening and everyone had already finished their assessments and patiently waited for the mages to come and pick them up.
While everyone was busy getting home in the evening from work, there were two men sitting on a bench in the city's park enjoying the snowy scenery.
One of the men said to the other: "Hey Jimmy did you know that this year there were more children who got an element compared to the last two centuries."
"How do you know that, James" asked Jimmy.
"I have my sources," he answered proudly.
"And what about the talents?" Jimmy wanted to know more.
"Now that's where it gets interesting, there were so many mutated and fused elements like never before, it's unbelievable," James emphasize the word 'mutated'.
"What's a mutated element?" Jimmy had never heard of a mutated element.
"It is basically a super-powered element, it's even more rare than a fused element!" James said all hyped up.
"Wow, that means we will get to see many intense competitions," Jimmy was excited when understood what that meant for them, "and most importantly we will get to gamble a lot."
"But that's not all, in one of the assessment towers there was a kid who garnered the attention of the Ruler, Her Majesty herself came to pick him up," said James respectfully.
"Who is that kid?" asked Jimmy.
"He's an orphan called Edvin," answered the knowledgeable James.
"When we get the chance, we must bet all our money on him," said the Jimmy.
"Definitely," replied James.
These two men were willing to gamble all their money on Edvin because they knew how powerful and wise the Ruler was, if she had some interest in Edvin then it meant that he was special.
"Let's go inside it's getting cold," said James. Jimmy nodded and they both went to James house as it was closer that Jimmy's.
***
The orphanage.
Alice was extremely worried about Edvin, he's still not back and there isn't any news of him as well.
Adena and Gilbert were both very anxious as the mages would soon come to pick them up, but they weren't willing to go because they haven't confirmed Edvin's safety yet.
"Alice, what happened in the testing tower for Her Majesty to take Edvin away?" asked Gilbert.
"I don't really know, but I think that it has something to do with the accident, maybe he triggered some secret mechanism of the crystal or something, but that still shouldn't attract the attention of Her Majesty," Alice was still unsure what Edvin did to get Her Majesty to take him away.
While they were discussing Edvins circumstances one of the nun's came in the room.
She said: "Alice there is an imperial messenger here to tell you something and he said that he must speak only to you, no one else is allowed."
"I shall meet him at once. You two stay here," said Alice to Adena and Gilbert.
She went out of the room and followed the nun to the guest room.
When she came to the guest room, she saw a man in his thirty, he was dressed neatly in a dark green military uniform. His name was Alexander and he came here frequently to inform them about the orphans who served in the military. As the information involved the military only a few people could talk to him in the orphanage and Alice was one of them.
"What brings you here this time," asked Alice. She was very serious at the moment because Alexander only came when the absolute worst happens to one of the orphans.
"This time around, I'm here from the orders of Her Majesty to inform you about a boy called Edvin," he said.
Alice was very worried about Edvin so she immediately asked: "What happened to him?"
Alexander looked at her seriously and said: "He has awakened a very powerful element, which previously has been seen on only one person, you may not know anything about that person as all of his records are top secret, but at his prime he could easily trample on the combined might of the ten Rulers, only because he faced a backlash in his cultivation did he fall out of power."
"You mean to say that accident was the awakening of his element, how is that even possible, he doesn't even know how to control his magical powers," Alice was doubtful. In all of her years of learning, she hasn't learned of an element that could kill somebody in its awakening stage.
"That just proves why it is so strong and terrifying," said Alexander with a shrug.
"Fine, but what is going to happen to him now," Alice still wasn't convinced, but she chose to believe it anyway.
"The thing is, Her Majesty has plans for him and even I don't know what they are, but rest assured, he's going to be alright," said Alexander.
"Can I meet him?" asked Alice.
"Maybe later, but not now," answered Alexander.
"Any more questions?" asked Alexander.
"Wha-" Alice wanted to ask him something but he interrupted her, "As there are no more questions, I shall take my leave."
With a bright light Alexander quickly vanished, he is an imperial messenger for a reason.
"Tch, what a shame," said Alice in frustration.
She stood up from her seat and went to the room where Adena and Gilbert were waiting.
She looked at them and sighted: "The imperial messenger said that Edvin is fine, but we are not allowed to meet him at the moment."
They both let out a breath of relief.
Adena said to Gilbert: "Well, if he gets some free time, he will definitely contact us so we should focus on our studied, he is going to get very strong under Her Majesty's wing."
She had absolute trust in Her Majesty, that is why she didn't worry about Edvin.
Gilbert nodded and said with resolution: "We can't fall behind."
They will both focus on their studies, as that was the only way they could ensure their reunion. They knew that, they had to keep calm and get powerful, that's why they didn't act rashly.
Soon the mages came to pick them up and they had resolute expressions. They followed the mages to their respective academies.
***
Sometime earlier.
Edvin felt weightless it was a very surreal feeling for him, he was floating in a tunnel of various bright lights. He tried to move around, but his body was not in his control. His mind started to slowly get fuzzy, but he resisted with all his might. He did so for what felt like many minutes, but alas he couldn't keep it up and started to lose his consciousness rapidly, the last thought he had was: 'What is happening to me?'
Suddenly there was a very strong pulling force that yanked him into an opening in the light tunnel.
An unknow amount of time passed before his eyes shot open, he was breathing heavily and that weird feeling of weightlessness still lingered in his mind. He looked around him to meet an office room, it was very clean and had a classy feel to it, there was a big desk in front of him which was covered with many documents and a there was a big chair on the other side of the desk. He looked below to see that he was sitting on a chair, he didn't know where he was. The last thing he remembered before the light tunnel was the assessment hall and the appearance of Her Majesty. 'Didn't she say that she wanted to take me with her,' Edvin thought and he quickly put the pieces together, 'then does this mean, that I'm in her office.'
Edvin looked around and observed the neat office room, there was a window with a view of the city, there were some simple plants and cabinets, but that was about it, he expected something more form the most powerful mage in the city.
He continued to observe the room when he heard a sweet voice.
"Hey kid, you sure kept your consciousness for a long time in the tunnel, it seems that you are somewhat promising," said Luna, the powerful Ruler of the Magic City of Life. This time around she didn't have a veil covering her face and it was breath taking, her beauty couldn't be compared to any master crafted statue by an artisan, but she still wore the same exquisite robes.
"What was your name again?" she asked him.
"It's Edvin, Your Majesty," answered Edvin meekly. He was really nervous, as he was speaking to one of the strongest existences in the world.
"You don't have to be so respectful when were alone, just call me Luna," she said with a sweet smile on her face.
"How could I, Your Majesty I'm not worthy to call you that way," he didn't dare to call Her Majesty by her name.
"No, I insist, it is an order, if you don't follow it you will be severely punished," her smile disappeared and she said in a serious tone.
"But-" Edvin tried to argue, when Luna interrupted him, "No buts, that's the end of the discussion."
"Then can I call you Ms. Luna?" asked Edvin.
"Do I look like a married woman to you?" she asked back.
"No," answered Edvin softly.
'Here goes nothing' thought Edvin. "Luna, why did you take me away?" he asked. He couldn't think of a reason why the Ruler would want to take him away.
"How dare you not use any honorifics when you talk to me!" Luna said in an angry tone.
"You just said that I should address you like that," Edvin was dumbfounded. Did he miss something?
"And what if I did, it was a test and you have failed it!" she shouted and released an oppressive aura that weighed down on his shoulders.
Edvin stood there shocked and he got a little angry: 'How dare you mess with me!'
He used all his willpower to resist the incoming aura, but it was very tyrannical, he felt as if his whole body would crumble into a single point. Cold sweat formed on his back as his legs started to give in, but he still continued to stand. The aura got progressively stronger and stronger, and his feet finally gave in, he had to support his body on all fours. His breathing was very heavy he could feel his mind shutting down.
When the aura got harder and harder to bear, he suddenly felt a surge of warm and gentle energy come form his heart and with every passing heartbeat it got pumped into his blood stream. Suddenly the heavy aura lessened and he could now somewhat withstand it. He slowly stood up and he felt invigorated, he sensed that the oppressive aura lessened with every passing moment, he formed a confident smile on his face. The surrounding aura gradually turned into energy strands which entered his body, the energy strands quickly turned into his own energy and he could now stand up straight and face the aura with ease, but at the same time his body gradually heated up and he sensed that something was wrong with him. His heartbeat was astounding, his heart was beating as if he just had run a marathon.
He then felt something warm enter his throat and he coughed-up blood and fell on his knees. He felt an intense pain premiere his body; it was as if somebody had stabbed thousands of needles into his bones. He then collapsed and lost consciousness.
When he fell on his knees the heavy aura immediately dispersed and Luna quickly rushed over to his side, she enveloped Edvins body with a green light and his internal wound healed rapidly.
'Wow, so that is the might of the star element, he hasn't even started to cultivate his magic power and he's able to withstand my magical aura,' Luna was astonished in her heart, but she still had a calm expression on her face.
Edvin felt very comfortable, his whole body felt good and full of energy. He slowly opened his eyes and he saw the Ruler stand a few meters away from him and she looked at him with a calm expression.
"I guess you have barely passed my test, you allowed to call me Luna, but remember to do it when we are alone and now the answer for your question," she said while pondering over something, "I have taken you with me because you are special, more precisely your awakened element is very special. It is extremely powerful and information can't be leaked to the outside world."
"What is my element," asked Edvin impatiently.
"Now there is no need to rush, it is not appropriate to hasten a lady," said Luna, but she didn't drag it on any longer and said: "You have the star element."
"What's that?" Edvin had never heard of such an element.
"It is a legendary element and it is main features are energy manipulation and energy storage, but there are many more uses that you will learn in the future," she said with a smile.
"But where do I learn the cultivation and combat techniques?" asked Edvin because there naturally wasn't an academy for him to learn in.
Luna wiped of her smile and looked at him one more time before she walked to the window and looked outside it: "For an element to be known it has to appear at least once, obviously you're not the first to awaken this element, there has been another man who got it before you. He was stupidly strong and ruled over the world like a king, but something happened to his cultivation and he lost most of his powers. After that he went into hiding and the world gradually forgot about him. He didn't have a teacher or any techniques to learn from, so he developed his own, you could say that he was an absolute genius of his time, but you're different, you're the second one to awaken the star element and you can inherit everything from your predecessor, your new master."
"What!" Edvin was dazed, he suddenly got himself a master and such a powerful one as well, but will he be able to handle his teachings and what about his friends, what will they think of him when they learn his situation? Wait a minute, what about his friends they must have been worried sick?
"Luna, what about my friend, do they know where I am? They must be worried sick," he said to Luna.
"I just told you an epic tale, but you're still thinking about your friends, I have already sent someone to inform them about your situation, but you won't be able to meet them for a while, you will be off the grid for some time, as me taking you away has become the talk of the town, I admit that I acted a little impulsively, but that doesn't justify all of that weird gossip," she was irritated by all of those grannies talking smack about her, she didn't have a sick fetish on little boys. It was not her fault that she could see and hear everything that happened in the city.
"What is the time?" asked Edvin.
"It's about two o'clock," Luna answered.
"That so late! But it just was noon a moment ago," Edvin didn't think that such a long time would have already passed.
"What can I say, time waits for no one," Luna shrugged.
"Okay, but when do I meet up with my supposed master. I don't even know his name yet," although Edvin was very quick to adapt, he still found it weird for him to have such a strong master out of the blue.
"We're going to meet him right now, as for his name," she looked at Edvin with a light smile, "why don't you ask for it yourself."
Edvin gulped, he knew that her smile meant something bad and he didn't dare to ask for his new master's name now.
"Now follow me," said Luna and went outside her officer room.
Edvin quickly followed her. When he came out of the office room, he was met with an amazing sight, there was a big garden just outside her office, he looked up and didn't see a roof. Edvin turned his head around and saw a floating door to the office.
The garden was decorated with many colourful flowers, there was a small, translucent pond and he could see many small fish swimming inside it, these fish were very beautiful they reflected the incoming sunlight on their rainbow coloured scales.
The grass all around was flush and green, he was currently standing on a narrow walkway that was made out of expensive, light blue brick. 'There are even sky bricks here, they price is astronomical, one brick costs a small aristocracy's annual income,' Edvin was dazed by the extravagance here, he thought that the assessment mage tower was overkill, but this, this was just madness.
"What is this place?" he couldn't help to ask.
"It's my garden," answered Luna casually.
"What about the floating doors?" Edvin had many questions, but he dared to ask only the important ones.
"Those are all of my gateways; they are a pretty simple thing to make," she said while walking towards a door on the far left, the door was made out of simple materials and would often be seen on peasant homes.
"Where is this place?" he was curious about their location, as he could see the open sky above him.
"It is a secret, but I can say you that it is indeed real location and not an illusion," she said with a smile and they were already upon the wooden door.
Edvin had noticed that she smiles a lot, he didn't expect their Ruler to be so easy-going while having powers that could rival gods.
Edvin looked at her beautiful smile and hesitantly said: "Are you always this happy?"
She stopped and turned around: "What kind of question is that?" She didn't except him to ask him something like this.
Edvin explained: "Isn't it difficult to rule over the city and hold such vast powers. With that kind of power don't you invite many challenges. Many strong beings come to contend with you for power, don't they? But you can still put on such a big smile. That is very admiring."
Luna was shocked by his wisdom and she said honestly: "Thank you for the compliment, but where did you learn something like that?"
"I have many good friends at a certain library, where we discuss many topics," Edvin replied while feeling proud of himself.
Luna was interested in what kind of place did Edvin go to, but she didn't dare to ask him that because that wouldn't be appropriate, would it now?
"You're right that there are sometimes existences that come and challenge me, but eventually they all lose," Luna said with confidence. She was very strong even among the strongest.
"But what if there is something that is even beyond your powers," Edvin was not satisfied with her answer.
"Then I will let the next generation deal with it," she said while shrugging.
Edvin was speechless, he didn't expect for their Ruler to be so indifferent about these matters.
"Now let's not waste any more time, your new master is waiting for you," said Luna. She stretched her arm and knocked on the door. Then she slowly opened it and went inside.
Edvin saw a messy room and it looked like it belonged to a peasant, there was much litter around the ground and dust everywhere.
Edvin followed Luna and they entered, what seemed to be a living room. There was and old table in the middle of the room with a few shabby chairs, the lighting was dim as the curtains were closed, and there was a bookshelf with many dusted books. You had to be careful to not step on something dirty on the ground.
Edvin was bewildered by the scene, shouldn't his master be very powerful, then why did he live in this rat hole, he asked Luna: "Are you sure that this is the right place?"
Luna found Edvin's reaction natural and said: "Yes, this is definitely the right place, it is still the same old room and even that plate with something rotten on it is still on the table. When was the last time I visited, was it not a few months ago? He certainly needs someone to clean this mess up, I guess you will suffice."
"What! I didn't agree to be someone's housekeeper, did I?" he was flabbergasted.
Luna looked at Edvin and put her palm on his shoulder, she said seriously: "Before you can become a disciple, you will need to earn the respect of the master."
"How can I get respect from cleaning!" he wasn't convinced at all.
Luna put her silvery hair behind her back and said while looking at him with her purple eyes: "Even I would have deep respect for the one who accepts this challenge and completes it, how could you not earn you masters respect and acknowledgement."
Edvin didn't know what to think about in this situation he continued to look around, but still couldn't see his supposed master.
Edvin decided to let this matter slide and asked: "Where even is my supposed master?"
"He is probably sleeping somewhere or drinking alcohol," Luna looked around the many rooms and didn't find him, "you will have to wait for him here, in the meantime you could clean up and give him a surprise." When she finished her sentence, her armband began to glow in a bright light.
"It looks like I'm needed somewhere else, here take this," she took out a ring from her robe, "consider this as my friendship gift, it's a spatial ring and has a communication function, you can use it to contact me if you have any problems."
She put the ring in Edvin palm and turned to face the door: "I will be leaving now, take care of yourself kid, I expect great things from you." Luna opened the door and went back to her garden.
Edvin was still not ready for such drastic changes in his life, but the manage to cope with them and remain calm. He opened up the door and didn't see Lunas garden, but a white forest, there was a lake nearby with running water and the sun was still shining.
"Weird, didn't she just go into the garden and now it's gone, the world really is mystical," Edvin mumbled to himself, "well, I might as well clean up this mess."
Edvin closed the door and went to work. He explored the house, he found two bedrooms, a kitchen and what looked to be a toilet. 'God it stinks in here, how can somebody live here,' he thought.
He opened up the windows, he didn't care that it was winter, he just wanted to get rid of that horrible stench. Walking around he house he found some stairs which went below the one-story building. He took a candle and lighted it up. He went down the stairs until he reached the cellar. The cellar was filled to the brim with booze and it was the only place that was kept clean: 'I guess he likes to drink a little too much.' Edvin was surprised by the number of different alcoholic beverages.
In the cellar he finally found some cleaning supplies and went out of the cellar, it didn't have anything more than those alcoholic stands. Having found his supplies, he finally went to work and started to clean up the house. He had to throw out a lot of garbage which made a small mountain outside the home. The house itself was a simple log building and had a tiled roof, which was covered in snow.
Edvin spent the whole afternoon cleaning the house, he had never seen so much dust in his whole life and he found something dead under one of the beds, he didn't know what it was an quickly got rid of it, eventually he cleaned all of the weird things out of the house and the stench was gone, so he closed the windows. Then he lit up the fireplace to get some heat. He put the all of the stinking cloths into a basket and fetched some water from the river, he heated the water and washed the cloths, which included the curtains and bedsheets. He hanged the cloths over the fireplace to dry.
Comparing the house now and before, it was like comparing heaven and earth. He had performed a miracle and finally he took out some rations form his ring, that he got form Luna. 'She even placed camping supplies and a months worth of rations,' he was surprised by Lunas thoughtfulness.
Soon came evening.
Edvin was sitting the living room and admiring the fireplace. He waited patiently for his new master and while he did that, he reorganised his thoughts.
'I wonder how my friends are faring? They must have been shocked when I was picked up by the Ruler, and now that I think of it, she really must have held me in high regard to come so quickly for me. Just what kind of element did I get for her to be so friendly to me?' Edvin had a lot of questions, but he knew the only thing he could do now was to wait.
'I have to get stronger, so that in the future nobody can push me around as they wish,' Edvin was resolute to get stronger, he felt really powerless in front of the Ruler, she got to dictate his life because she was so powerful, but luckily she was a kind person, so Edvin didn't mind it too much, but what if she wasn't, what if there was an evil person out there who wanted to make him suffer. He had to get a hold of his own destiny, so that he could protect his friends and most importantly himself.
When he was deep in his thoughts there came a noise from the door. He turned his head to look in the direction form where the noise came from. He saw a big man enter the door, the man was about 2 m high, he had big shoulders and a muscular body, but he wore rags and had messy unkept dark hair and a short dark beard. He looked over to the sitting Edvin. When Edvin's gaze met the man he could see his golden eyes, Edvin had the same eye colour as well.
The man walked over to the table, he pulled up a chair and sat on the other side of the table.
The man said: "You must be the kid that Luna sent to me, what's your name?"
"Edvin," Edvin answered.
"Edvin, not a bad name, it just misses the 'w'," the man looked at the room.
"It seems you cleaned up the house, that is commendable, but that won't be enough for you to become my disciple," the man said with a serious expression.
Edvin expected this, as he found it ridiculous what Luna said.
He looked at the man and said: "I got the star element and, so I don't have any place to learn from or any cultivation techniques available. Luna said that you have the star element as well and that you could teach me."
Edvin paused for a second: "Sir, could you please take me as your disciple, I beg of you! I don't want to let others decide my life and death, I want to control my own destiny, I want to protect my loved ones and friends. I'm an orphan so they are the closest family that I have."
Edvin wasn't sure if he could become strong, but he had to at least try.
"I want to be your disciple" Edvin said with resolution.
The man stood up form his chair and said: "Follow me."
Edvin stared at the man and trailed behind him. The man went outside and currently it was clear outside, the moon shined brightly, illuminating the snow and the stars shone in the dark night sky. Luckily, Edvin was wearing winter clothes as it was currently minus thirdly degrees, but the man still wore his rags and was unfazed by the cold.
The man said to Edvin: "Take off your clothes and get into the lake, if you can survive for more than an hour I will take you as my disciple."
Edvin was expecting some kind of test, but to something like this. Didn't mages have to be strong with spells and not their physical bodies.
Nevertheless, Edvin still did as instructed. When he took off his clothes he felt the chilling cold penetrate his body. He quickly started shivering and his teeth startet clatter.
He somehow managed to walk on the cold snow and with each step he took, he could feel his feet becoming number.
He went near the lake and put the tip of his feet inside. When he did that, the water suddenly started to freeze his whole feet. 'What's wrong with the water!' Edvin instantly retracted his leg and looked at it. It was blue, his feet was blue, he lost all sensation in it except for pain, he could barely move it so he had to support his body with the other leg.
The man said with an icy tone: "Continue."
He had to become stronger to protect himself and the people close to him. This man was his only chance to do that. Edvin didn't exitate and jumped into the lake. When his body touched the water ice quickly covered his whole body and enshrouded his head.
Edvin could not hear, see or smell, he could only feel pain. A biting cold pain that was hard to bear and he started to slowly lose his consciousness. Edvin could not hold on for long, he estimated that he would die in one minute. 'Is this how I'm going to die?' he thought to himself, but he didn't regret his decision. If the would die then he would die with no regrets. At Least that was what he was thinking, when there, in his mind, suddenly entered the faces of his friends. 'No, I can't die like this, I haven't even met up with my friends' Edvin got ahold of himself and endured the pain. He kept himself awake with his sheer willpower and in doing so he felt a sudden change, his heart started to glow in a bright light.
The man looked at Edvin, who was now submerged in the lake, he was waiting for the moment when Edvin would lose his consciousness. Then he had a shocked expression when he saw the golden glow coming from the water: 'This kid really does have the star element and such a strong affinity as well, it might be even stronger than mine.' But the man quickly calmed himself and he regained his calm facial expression. "Let's wait and see how long you can hold on," the man said under his breath. He waived with his arm and the water essence in the air quickly gathered in the lake until the lake itself became like flowing ice.
Edvin felt his heart beat faster and faster. The surrounding elemental energies entered his body and they started to heal him. The pain lessened as he felt a warm energy enter his mind and he quickly felt invigorated. 'What is happening?' he wondered. Maybe the man was helping him, but then what would be the point of the test, thinking of that the quickly dismissed the idea. He somehow felt that this energy came from inside of him. He tried to control it, but he didn't know how, the energy did its own thing. 'I guess, I will just see for how long I can keep this up,' Edvin didn't know what to do so he at least tried to feel processes happening in his body.
Seconds passed then minutes, until about 50 minutes had gone by within an blink of the eye. Edvin was still submerged in the ice lake. The water there was extremely weird as it had not frozen even at this temperature, it was many times more colder than the outside world. Edvin's body shone a bright golden light as magical energy entered his body and mended his freezing skin. About thirty minutes before the warmth had vanished and his mind became clear. He could now feel the pain of his body being frozen and unfrozen, he didn't know how he survived without air for so long, but it had something to do with the magical energy. He dared not to open his mouth and he could only endure the pain.
The man was staring at Edvin with bewilderment. He knew the powers of the star element were overbearing, but he didn't expect this kid to have such a terrifying affinity for it. 'It seem that I got myself a genius,' the man was now thinking of ways to bring out Edvin's full potential, 'looks like he will pass this test easily, so why don't I just use the most extreme methods to train him.'
Soon an hour had passed. The man pulled the glowing Edvin out of the ice essence lake.
Feeling the pain lessen Edvin opened up his eyes and said: "What was that weird energy and why didn't I die?"
'And how am I still standing, shouldn't I be unconsciouss now?' he thought.
The man was amused: "Kid, do you even know what kind of powers you have? If you were to die here you would bring shame to the star element."
"What exactly is the star element, how is that I have never heard if it before," Edvin asked.
The man said: "Let's go inside."
Edvin quickly collected his clothes and went inside the house.
When he was inside he remembered why he went into the lake: "Am I you disciple now?"
"Yes, now go and dry yourself and put on some clothes," the man said.
When Edvin went to dry himself, he noticed that the entire house was heated up and he didn't feel cold at all. The coldness from the ventilation of the house was gone.
'Strange, it must be because of masters powers,' he thought. When Edvin finished his endeavours, he went to the living room and saw the big man waiting for him.
"Are you done?" asked the man.
"Yes," replied Edvin.
"Then let's start our first lesson. Take a seat," said the man.
Edvin sat down by the table and he was surprised that he didn't feel hungry or sleepy.
As if the man knew what was on his mind, he chuckled and said: "Your body was energized in the lake so you won't need to eat or sleep for a while."
"That's amazing!" Edvin didn't excpect something so miracilous.
"That's nothing compared to the effects the element has later on your body," said the man.
"When somebody gets their element, they are molded by it to get an even stronger resonance passively, but if one were to actively gather the element then the effects would be drastically different," the man explained. Edvin already knew that a person will change according to an element to accommodate it better and the better the affinity, the more pronounced the change, of course hard work is also needed.
"Now we call this cultivating were the body absorbs large amounts of the element from the surroundings. Normal people can't do this because they don't feel the elements, but we mages have an affinity with the elements, so we can feel it in our surroundings. The better the affinity, the more elemental essence one can feel, the better they can gather it in their bodies and cultivate," the man raised his hand and pointed his index finger upward.
Above his finger there formed a liquid ball of golden-orange energy. Edvin looked at it with wonder.
"This is the star essence," the man said.
"Wow…," Edvin was amazed by the ball of light. He had never seen something like this. Edvin also wanted to do it, but he didn't know how.
The man continued to speak: "Unlike water, fire, wind, earth, light or darkness elements, the star element is the most basic energy in the universe."
"Aren't the six elements the building blocks of the universe?" Edvin asked in confusion.
"Not really," the man put down his hand, "they are the different forms, that the star energy molds into, on itself the energy is very chaotic, but in its chaotic nature comes order. The star energy continuously collapses or expands into the basic elements."
"That is very amazing!" Edvin exclaimed.
"An important factor in cultivation is knowledge about the human body. The production and collection of magical power is mainly done by the heart, and the mind is the one that controls the flow of magical power - it's called mental energy. Magical power is a broad term, but it mostly describes the individuals amount of elemental energy in the body and the ability to control the elemental essence in environment. Elemental energy is what our bodies store and use, but elemental essence is all around us," the man explained.
"You need to have a strong body and mental energy to increase the amount of stored elemental energy and the speed of its circulation," he continued, "there also is a need for a cultivation techniques to efficiently gather, store and use the elemental energy."
Edvin knew most of this from school and he waited paitiently for the man to finish.
"All elements, except the star one, have a priority to cultivate mental energy as the body doesn't have a problem to absorb the calm elemental essence. In later cultivation stages the power to control the surrounding elements is more important, as the body can only store a limited amount, but with the star element we have to cultivate our body first before we start to utilise the surrounding elemental essence. The star energy or basic energy is very chaotic and unstable and there is a need for a strong body to keep it under control, if you do not have a strong body then in the later stages of cultivation you're going to face a big backlash, as did I," the man said with regretful voice.
"Then why didn't you cutivate the body first?" Edvin asked.
"How was I supposed to know that? I was the first person in the world to get an affinity with the star element, so of course I followed the standard method, but it went horribly for me and I have been recuperating since," the man didn't want to talk about it anymore.
The man switched topics: "We are going to start with the basics. You're going to have to learn how to control the elemental energy in you body. Sit down, cross legged."
Edvin did as instructed.
"Now try to remember the feeling that you had in the lake," the man said.
Edvin still had the events that happened in the lake fresh in his mind. In the ice cold lake, he felt surrounded by darkness, there was nothing, but pain. Then there came a strange warmth from his heart. The warm sensation soon covered his entire body and he slowly started to feel an energy which was made with every heartbeat.
Edvin tried to remember the process before the energies sudden appearance. His body was frozen stiff and he felt like he would die any second, but he filled his body to stay alive with all his mind, then the energy appeared.
Edvin had a sudden realization and he said to the man: "I remember that I put all of my will into surviving and a warm energy appeared. It must have because I used my mental energy to activate the generation of that warm energy in my heart."
"That's right! You're a bright kid to have figured it out so fast, for most people it would take days, you did it in a matter of minutes," the man praised.
"Now, use your mental energy to activate the production of magic power," the man instructed.
Edvin concentrated on his heart and willed it to produce the magical power. He used all of his willpower to command his heart, he felt every heartbeat and the blood that was pumped out of it. He focused on the feeling he had before in the lake and the energy that was in his body. His heart started to slowly turn golden. He felt the warm energy starting to be produced.
The man was surprised by Edvin: 'This kid is truly frightening to grasp the concepts of using mental energy so fast.'
Edvin felt the warm golden energy pulse through his body. In the beginning it was very calm and it gave Edvin an fantastic feeling of invigoration, but the more time passed the more it started to get unstable, until it quickly started to give him mild pain. At that moment Edvin relaxed his mind and the generation of star energy ended, but there was still quite an amount in his body, some energy dissipated in the surrounding environment, but most of it stayed in his body.
Edvin didn't know what to do, the pain still increased and he would soon start to scream from it, then came the man's voice: "Try to control it to your fist and throw a punch."
Despite the strong pain in his body, Edvin still managed to remain clear headed and he focused his remaining mental energy to direct his star energy.
'To the fist,' he commanded his body and put in all of his effort. The energy started moving and it quickly flowed into his right fist. Then he punched out with all of his might.
Edvin felt likes his entire body was emptied out. His right fist struck empty air and a massive force of power was unleashed. The air howled as it was pulled along and the surrounding elemental essence was thrown into disorder. But surprisingly the room and house were unscratched. Edvin was dumbfounded by the might of his punch, it could have killed a knight in full armor, with only the shockwave, not to mention the direct impact.
"Passable for the first time," the man said.
Edvin was lying on the ground gasping for air. His entire body was sore and he couldn't lift a finger.
The man looked at Edvin and said: "Your body isn't ready. We will start training tomorrow morning. Get some rest, you will need it."
The man took the bedsheets, which were now dry and went to his room.
Edvin now could somewhat stand up and he went to one of the rooms as well. He did forget the bed sheet, but he didn't care that much. He quickly fell asleep.
***
The next day.
"How much longer do I need to stand like this?" Edvin asked in a exausted voice.
"Until your body falls apart," the man replied with a smile.
"This is just torture!" Edvin complained.
"I know, right," the man nodded, "but how else are you going to handle the stress from the star energy."
Edvin groned, he has been doing this for all morning now, but somehow he wasn't dead yet.
He was woken up with cold water and he had to immediately do push ups to get ready for the day. Then he ate some breakfast and he went to the basement, where all the liquor was stored. The man pulled a bottle and a secret door opened up, inside there was a large training hall, about the size of a football field. There were many strange training apparatuses and measuring machines.
He went through who knows how many strange exercises, his body quickly started to feel heavy every time he did them. The man said that he would rapidly recover every time he went into a circle to relax and he did. That weird circle was his saving grace as it healed and energized his body with frightening speed, but at the same time he couldn't have any excuses.
Currently Edvin was running in a treadmill, which was getting progressively faster. When he couldn't keep up he would be shocked with electricity.
"How much… longer do I need to do this," Edvin was catching his breath. He had never imagined that a mage would need to train his body more than a knight.
The man looked at his wristwatch: "Look at that, it's already noon." He went to the machine and pulled a leaver. The wheel stopped and Edvin fell out of it.
The man picked up Edvin by his collar and yanked him over to the magic circle to rest.
"We will now learn some magic theory, meet me in the living room in five minutes," the man said as he walked away.
Edvin was laying on the ground. His eyes were dull and he seemed to have lost his life. The magical circle shone with a gentle green light. After a few seconds the light dimmed down and Edvin finally sat up.
'Sooner or later I'm going to die here,' it had been only one and a half days since he had gotten here and he had already gotten so many "close to death situations", if it wasn't for this circle he would already be dead.
He patted the magic circle in appreciation and inspected it a little. The circle was made from weird green inscriptions and there were some golden coloured stones embedded in the stone slab.
Edvin was already healed so he stood up and went to his room. He went into the magic shower and hastily washed up, if one were to take note of the time then they would be astonished by his speed, maybe he could become the world champion in the shower competitions.
Edvin quickly dressed up and went into the living room.
"You're late by 6 seconds," the man said sternly. "I will forgive you this time, but if it happens again I will put in ice lake for 6 hours. Never be late, I hate people who are not punctual," the man took out a crystal.
Edvin looked at the crystal curiously. It was light blue in color and was about the size of fist.
"This is a elemental essence crystal, you can call it magical crystal for short," the man said, "it can be used to quickly convert it's pure essence into elemental energy, for example, this blue crystal can be used by a water mage to boost their cultivation."
"But that is not the only function it has, they can also be used to make magical artifacts, the higher the colour the better the crystal," the man explained.
Edvin nodded in acknowledgement.
"But I like to use them as weapons," the man suddenly released his magical power into the stone and it started to glow in a blue golden color until it became completly golden. The crystal was buzzing with power.
'Is he crazy of what?' Edvin was frightened. They were still indoors after all.
The man took the crystal and threw it in a dimension pocket, in which it exploded and the light that seeped out was blinding. With a wave of his hand the pocket dimension was closed.
"I think that practical knowledge triumphs theoretical knowledge," the man looked amused by Edvins reaction, "I care for my pupils safety that's why I will teach you this now, but only use this trick in life or death situations and when I allow it or you will make my pockets dry."
"Understood," replied Edvin.
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone