A desert, this was the first time Emery had seen such a place. The cool breeze, the sun's glare, a vast empty space behind them, the grains of sand beneath his feet. Funnily enough, this place looked like it would be scorching but that wasn't the case.
In front of them was a large sign made out of limestone that said 'Welcome to 'Animus'.
There were thousands of young people, walking around in every direction, going into tall, straight houses also made of limestone. It was a bustling institute. What really caught Emery and Julian's eye though was the colossal yellow pillar in the middle. If they would both have to guess, that's their destination.
On the way, Julian couldn't help but notice the abundance of people and statues everywhere. There must be thousands of people in this place; he commented, "It looks like the earth element is the most abundant affinity amongst everyone."
Emery nodded in agreement. Soon enough, they arrived in front of the pillar that towered over the whole place. There were people gathering atop a hundred steps staircase.
Emery sighed and massaged his temple. He was already out of breath from walking on what felt like trudging through mud. It took almost half an hour before Emery reached the top of the staircase where there were hundreds of new acolytes just like him. He saw some familiar faces who had received the same elemental affinity in Minerva's class hall but a particular person though got his attention.
That person was also wearing a similar uniform but it was more of a robe. His aura though was what set him apart. It felt like he was someone whom you could depend on. Then that person lifted his hood with his big, calloused hands. Even though he had a serious face coupled and short hair, making him look strict, there was that sense of familiarity.
The magus introduced himself, "Welcome! My name is Darius, an Earth Lord Magus, and I'll be your guide during these seven days. My goal for all of you is to make sure you have sufficient understanding of the strongest element in the universe."
"Strongest?" a boy in the front said with a face full of doubt. In fact, it wasn't only that boy but a lot of the acolytes including Emery and Julian thought the same.
Darius laughed and smiled before saying, "Well then, let me clear your doubts."
He then made several gestures with his hand before placing his palm on the large rock sitting next to him. The large rock shook and restructured itself turning into a giant human shaped rock like the statues Emery and Julian had seen on their way here. The stone monster moved and offered its hand to Darius and Darius made his way to the stone monster's shoulder.
Darius said, "Indeed fire could turn cities into ashes, water could turn peaceful waves into terrifying tsunamis that could sweep an entire forest to become bare, lighting could eliminate lives in a blink of an eye, and wind could change the gentle breeze into swirling tornadoes as sharp as swords.
"But earth, the land, life sprang from the ground and to the ground is where all life shall return. Our institute is known as the strongest that could withstand all. Other cities—worlds may fall for they don't have our wall that protects all, Titan Shield. Ours is a shield that stands against the heavenly fires, tsunami, thousands of thunderbolts, and hurricanes..."
Emery stood in awe as he imagined the natural disasters still unable to break against the earth itself. He wondered if he could learn that, then he would not fear any knife, blade, fire, etc. any threat against his life.
Darius continued, "...Make no mistake, however. The earth element isn't only to defend one's self. We also have a spell that can pull an unimaginable force of destruction that could threaten all life in one world. In fact, this spell was so terrible that it wiped out the previous inhabitants of a whole world."
"Woah, could you tell us more about that?" asked a boy in the front.
"I'm afraid that's all I can tell you. We don't want you now learning a spell to wipe out a whole world, do we?" said Darius with a smile.
Emery also had half a smile as he listened to Darius explain a whole bunch of things. Even though Darius had a serious looking face, the aura he emitted made a person listen in and enjoy.
Darius explained while descending from the stone human's shoulder. "The Ten Elements have all their own defense, attack, and assistive spells. But what sets the earth element is so simple."
The acolytes seemed to squeeze in eager to listen to Darius' words.
"The basic and first step for a magus to learn is to be aware of your surroundings. We channel the energies of the gods and goddesses in our bodies to move the external world. For example, in order to use water spells, you need to have water near you, thus water element magi are strong when channeling in large bodies of water. Same with fire magi, they are strongest in places where the heat is abundant. As for the earth element, it is everywhere. The ground you stand on is earth and we spend 95% of our time standing on earth. And this is the reason why, my new acolytes, earth element is the strongest among the others."
Emery and Julian subconsciously nodded in agreement, Darius' explanation made a lot of sense so they couldn't wait to learn in this place.
Darius then turned the stone human to its original form when a woman wearing the same magus robes as him approached while clapping.
"You're becoming more eloquent as each year passes by, Darius. I am impressed," said the woman.
"Of course, Felicia! These youths are the future. I need to inspire these youths for the sake of humanity and I truly believe our earth element is the solution. The more talented acolytes join the earth institution, the better," replied Darius.
Felicia said, "Okay, okay, I'm not here to lecture you or anything. Now let's get to business. Let's see how many of them are qualified today."
"Let's enter the pillar, everyone!" Darius exclaimed to the young acolytes.
I wonder if any of the readers can guess which novel this chapter inspired? please continue your support. double chapter coming soon.
Hundreds to thousands of acolytes walked into the gigantic pillar. The main hall was massive and there were also hundreds of people moving up and about.
They moved toward the large gate at the end of the hall. Emery and Julian chatted but then everybody stopped all as they all felt something, a force that made their steps heavier.
"Emery, can you feel that?" Julian asked Emery in confusion.
"Yes, It feels like my whole body is being pushed down. What do you think is happening?" Emery said
"I'm just clueless as you, you know," said Julian, also having difficulties walking but faring much better than Emery.
Arriving at the large closed stone gate, Darius slightly bowed before turning around and saying, "The people who have elemental affinity with earth will get a benefit from this place. I'm sure all of you have experienced the invisible force pushing down on you by now. The longer you are staying in this place, the better is your talent in channeling the energy of the earth. I urge each one of you to come here everyday, so that you'll become a great magus in the future. Forget the other elements you have."
He placed his hands behind his back and continued, "Behind this gate lies a rock that is the origin of the stone element spirit. Everyone can enter this gate to gather and channel earth energy so that you'll improve your knowledge of the earth. However, for a first year acolyte, each of you can only train inside this room for half a day."
Darius then formed various gestures with his hands and a stone sprang beside him as tall as him. "If you can move this stone then you will be deemed as passed and receive acceptance as an acolyte for the institute of stone."
Several confident youths went over the stone Darius made and pushed it but it didn't budge. Darius laughed, "Did you think it would be that easy? Now enter the room and train your elemental energy. The closer you are to the origin stone, the faster you'll learn."
After Darius said that, the ground beneath their feet rumbled as the closed stone gate opened itself.
Emery and Julian entered along with the crowd and even though there were like a thousand of them, there was more than ample space for everyone to take a seat by themselves.
At the far side of the room, stuck to the wall, was a small piece of a pitch black rock floating on top of three platforms.
Emery walked slowly with Julian beside him. He was starting to feel out of breath because each step he took felt like scaling a mountain.
After the eleventh step, Emery felt like there's a huge wall preventing him from getting closer so he sat, cross-legged, while Julian moved closer to the rock. Emery closed his eyes and concentrated on catching his breath first. He then focused his mind on the black stone and a voice entered his mind.
Emery kept his eyes closed and thought about the black stone more. In the darkness of his mind, it felt like he was the only one and the black rock appeared in front of him.
The black rock emitted a faint yellow light and formed the following words 'Calm thy mind, be one with earth. Steadfast thy heart, unmoved, unshaken.'
"Be one with earth. What does it mean..." muttered Emery to himself when the black rock in his mind suddenly enlarged itself making him feel like being swallowed.
He wanted to open his eyes but then he remembered the next words 'Steadfast thy heart, unmoved, unshaken'. Emery forced himself to calm down and not panic. That was the clue. He remained seated—steady as the large black rock grew larger and larger as big as a mountain until it finally swallowed him. Emery felt the energy of the earth around him and was starting to lose his sense of self.
"Time's up!" Darius exclaimed.
Emery then opened his eyes, sweat dripping from his forehead. Without realizing it, they all had spent half a day sitting in front of the rock.
Emery waited for Julian to arrive and asked, "What happened?"
"Truly extraordinary!" Julian said with a beam on his face while also dripping with sweat.
All acolytes exited the room. Some looked excited and some looked exhausted.
After returning in front of the stone gate, Darius called their attention and made dozens of stones like the one he had made and asked them to move the stones.
A confident acolyte stepped forward first and placed his palm in front of the stone. The stone shook.
Darius smiled and said, "Excellent! Those who can move this stone will be considered an acolyte of the institute of stone. Those who are still unable to move it will need to train more. Could I have everyone check their palms first."
Emery focused his thoughts on the circle with a line in the middle.
[Emery-male-15 years]
[Battle power: 5]
[Spirit power: 21]
[Received Basic earth spirit cultivation technique.]
New information appeared in his mind, it is the manual on the earth spirit cultivation technique. But there was one thing that caught his eye the most. Emery had spent half a day focusing on the stone and his spirit power increased by one point! His heart jumped with joy even if it was just one point. He gave it a thought and came to a realization, this was like mastering a skill. The more he practiced a skill, then the comprehension would increase, wouldn't that mean the spirit power also would improve a lot faster?
Just as he was thinking more and more, Julian exclaimed, "This is amazing! I just looked at my spirit power go up by three! In half a day, I'm three points shy from thirty."
"..."
The word three point took away Emery's joy of receiving one point. Ahh alas, a short ten second of happiness but still Emery was joyful that Julian also had a fruitful time.
"That's great!"
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