Chapter 98 - Four Element Disaster

“D-Did I just see what I think I saw?”

“Uh, I think so. Holy crap, over 2,500% efficiency rating?”

“That obviously can’t be accurate, the readings must have gone crazy before the golem exploded.”

“Doesn’t that just prove how insane his power is? He shattered the cumulus crystal, and now he blew up the gravitas golem!”

Syrene cleared her throat then, even as she continued to drag Skyle past the double doors that led into the chambers for the final test. The boy who was the source of all the commotion appeared listless and weary, his arms hanging down limply at his sides.

The three masters affected not to notice as they turned around and sent fierce warning scowls at their students. This produced the desired effect and the excited chatter died down. Every set of eyes was filled with trepidation and even a hint of awe as they gazed upon the Aegis’sur’s surprising new apprentice.

Skyle, for his part, looked like a fish that had been slapped out of the water, his eyes vacant and his mouth hanging open. His brain was still struggling to come to terms with having destroyed 225,000 golds’ worth of magical equipment. It did not escape his notice that the price of each precious artifact kept climbing up. That was not to even mention how every time he shed light upon his own accomplishments, he was marking himself as a target for every curious magister or church official. He had no doubt in his mind that they would unceremoniously put his head on the chopping block as soon as they found even a hint of the taint in his elemental veins, no matter how loud they sung the praises of his talent before.

Even such grave considerations paled when he eyed the massive chamber that awaited them beyond the deceptively simple double doors.

A round chamber at least four hundred feet across spread out before his eyes. Several chandeliers holding dozens of everlight globes each cast their golden light upon grand scenes depicting the power of the elements along the walls. Each carving was shaped in painstaking detail, and the colors were so vivid they seemed ready to jump out of the walls and come to life.

Doubtless, what truly drew the eye was the magic circle carved in the middle of the chamber. It was a circular platform about fifty feet in diameter upon which countless runes were inscribed. The glittering magical script also formed part of the circle’s border, bathing the chamber in a shower of sparkling lights as they reflected from the domed ceiling. Spaced out evenly along the circle’s perimeter were four smaller circles. Each of them bore the unmistakable greater runes of each major element: Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. Sparkling lines of runic script connected these elements in angular lines which wove around the center the circle. There, an equally complex circle stood though no greater rune was drawn upon its surface. This was the altar where an individual would summon the power of the elements, and await their answer.

It was upon a similar magic circle, though much lesser in scale and grandeur, where Skyle had watched his dreams of elemental dominance come crashing down. On that ruinous day, he had first taken the elemental attunement test to apply for an academy. He could still remember the mocking laughter of the crowd that had filled his ears to bursting. Even clearer still was the dismissive sneer of the academy official who had shoved him off the platform to make way for the next applicant.

Skyle felt a small hand squeeze his at this moment. He looked down to see Kassandra smiling encouragingly up at him. Only his family knew the depth of the scars he bore from that day. It had been the first major failure and setback of his young life, and only recently had he finally begun to truly come to terms with it. It was ironic that it was Sanctuary where he understood that his lack of magical talent didn’t mean the end of the world, but also where he had awakened his own bloodline talent.

Now, another crowd stood watching with rapt gazes as he approached the glittering magical circle. It hummed with power as he strode across its surface, leaving a startled Syrene tiptoeing at the outer edge of the runic border.

“Try not to break this one. It dates back to the foundation of the school itself and is linked to each of the elemental altars spread across the academy!”

Syrene’s tone was teasing, but Skyle caught the first edge of concern in her voice. Watching the arcs of elemental power surging under his feet, he could understand why. A magic circle of this scale was an authentic treasure that made up the foundation of the academy. It was not something that could simply be bought with mountains of gold, as it involved the elemental spirits dwelling in each of the altars.

Still, while his eyes saw grandeur and majestic grace, all he could hear were the sounds of an endless shower of golden coins clinking together. He knew that if he screwed this one up, there would be hell to pay. As Skyle came to a halt within the central circle in the regis testing array, he blew out a breath and composed himself.

“Now, how do I blow this test without actually blowing it up?”

The crowd stood watching with breathless anticipation, likely hoping they’d witness another legend in the making.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!”

Skyle quickly focused his mind, entering the True Sight. He was immediately blasted with the blinding glare of hundreds of elemental streams surging across the magic circle. Each rune empowered a specific strand of essence. Each strand, in turn, formed part of a larger structure. They were all connected to each of the four major circles representing each element. These channels glowed with potential power, but at the moment lay devoid of essence. The runic circle was like an empty vessel, waiting for power to be channeled into the summoning of each elemental spirit.

Skyle quickly found that the elegant simplicity of the concept was drowned out by the complexity of the endeavor itself. His questing gaze found many conduits which seemed unnecessary and clunky, while others were just a burden upon the smooth flow of the elements.

“Why are so many redundant systems added to burden this beautiful spell structure?”

As Skyle chewed upon his lip, realization suddenly dawned upon him. His eyes went round as a vivid light flashed behind his eyes. He finally came to understand some of the principles behind such baffling decisions.

“The difference is the True Sight!”

It was only now that Skyle truly began to understand the difference between his True Sight and the Spirit Sight employed by every other person. Skyle could see every strand of elemental essence in incredible detail. As far as he could tell, nothing could remain hidden from his eyes. In the other hand, it began to dawn upon him that many of those supposedly unnecessary arrays functioned as a vital guiding system for an individual who could only see weaves of their own element, and nothing else.

From the descriptions he had read, Spirit Sight allowed its wielder to distinguish essence patterns of their own element, and by inference detect the presence of the other elements. After all, there was seldom such a thing as a stream of one single pure element. In nature and in spells, the elements freely mingled together and often interacted in order to produce their most powerful effects. It was often due to such mutual dependency that a skilled user could even accurately deduce the specific pattern of other elements through their draw upon the universal essence pool. With such limitations in mind, Skyle came to realize that many of the useless patterns he saw were actually ingenious ways to adapt spell formations so wielders of any element could use them.

“But I don’t need to worry about any of that. I can see each strand of elemental essence, no matter which element it is!”

Skyle’s heart jumped with joy at this realization. Though the essence in his own veins lay crippled by the taint, there was still one type of essence that he could draw upon. It was the smoky mist that lay buried deep in his veins: the shadow essence. Its nature mystified Skyle, but he still remembered the brutal, overwhelming power summoned forth when he had wielded it against the Guardian of Sanctuary.

“The power to defy a fallen goddess, buried right here in my veins!”

If he could somehow tap into the swirling strands of elemental essence he could see dancing about everywhere around him, would that mean that he could wield all four elements?

Blood sang in his ears as Skyle’s heart began to thump loudly enough to startle him from his fantasies. He quickly grounded himself and squared his feet, resolving that until his taint could be dealt with, he needed to keep a low profile.

It was a tempting proposition to reach out to the siren calls of the elements coming from each of the major runes inscribed on every side of the magic circle he stood on. Skyle had to shut his eyes for a moment as his hands shakily began to reach out towards the streams of power he could see swirling around his body. They almost brushed across his skin and left a tingling feeling along with a trail of goosebumps.

“Wait, this is the perfect opportunity to test whether my shadow essence can help me draw other elements.”

The magic circle seemed specifically designed to assist the student in using their innate elemental affinity to call out to each element. If he exercised caution, Skyle might be able to achieve an incredible breakthrough. He would finally be able to wield the power of the elements, just like Leon and Kass did!

Indecision chewed on his heart until his brain began to wring itself dry of reason and finally threw caution to the wind.

“Can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs - nevermind that they've cost 225,000 golds so far.”

Skyle blew out a deep breath as he opened his eyes and began to look for the water elemental lines in the circle. He was resolute that he would not allow himself to reach a high affinity number. So long as he did not exceed the average scores for a student, there was no reason why he should not avail himself of this precious opportunity. After all, who knew when Skyle would have a chance to have such a mighty magic circle all to himself?

Tentatively at first, Skyle drew upon a strand of his shadow essence. The smoky mist obediently swirled forth from his hand. He flicked a nervous glance toward his back, but Syrene’s aura projected a feeling of amusement, excitement and just the smallest hint of concern. That last sentiment was laced with a warmth that startled Skyle. Maybe he had misjudged the Aegis’sur, and she wasn’t here just to make his life miserable after all.

“At least she seems unaware of my shadow essence. Now, I just need to complete my experiment and get the most boring scores I can manage.”

Returning his attention to the flows of essence around him, he tried matching the hue in his own veins with that of the essence outside. He immediately identified several prospects, and singled out a single strand of vibrant blue that lay only a couple feet away. It fluttered in the air as Skyle willed his shadow essence to extend forth. He could barely push down the excitement in his chest as he watched the smoky line stretch until it landed upon the blue essence.

Upon contact, both strands of essence pushed each other lightly. Skyle furrowed his brow as he willed his shadow essence to thin itself out and wrap around the blue essence. A slow smile grew on his lips as the malleable mist parted like the petals of a flower, then closed upon the blue essence.

“Yes! It works! Now, how do I take this power for myself?”

As soon as the thought flashed in his head, his bloodline power seemed to understand his intent. It began to draw upon the blue essence, sucking the light from it and infusing it directly into his own body. Skyle’s eyes bulged out as he watched the azure light begin to flow naturally into his elemental veins.

“I can feel it. I’m recovering my essence!”

The surge of joy that lit up his eyes was short-lived, however. Skyle did not neglect to keep a careful watch upon his veins. It was why he was immediately aware the moment the taint stirred. He had momentarily contained it using the shadow essence, but now that there was a new flow of elemental essence entering his veins, it began to struggle against its bindings.

Alarmed, Skyle immediately cut off the connection between himself and the water essence. The small amount of essence he had drawn was insignificant when it was circulated around his veins, and so the taint reluctantly returned to its fitful slumber.

Brushing away the clammy sweat that beaded his forehead, Skyle finally let himself breathe again. He sucked in ragged mouthfuls of air as he contemplated his next move.

“Alright, so no drawing of essence into my own body, at least not until I can deal with the taint. Still, I’m able to manipulate elemental essence using strands of shadow. How about redirecting it into the spell formations without directly absorbing them?”

Skyle knew nothing about spells, but his True Sight granted him insight into the minute workings of relatively simple spell formations. Simple, that is, when compared to the impossible complexity of beings like the Guardian of Sanctuary. Though he did not dare fiddle around with most of the complex spell arrays that surrounded him, through simple experimentation while reading the flow of essence he was confident in his ability to produce some results.

“At least enough that I can barely scrape by without being labeled as a cripple.”

After all, the moment he had shattered the cumulus crystal, he knew he would raise questions which he must provide an answer for. The destruction of the gravitas golem only made it worse. Unless he fancied being dissected at some secret imperial lab, he needed to display at least some middling talent. Otherwise, an enterprising imperial agent or mad academy researcher might decide that the answer to some mysteries were worth sacrificing a farmboy or two upon the altar of knowledge.

Nodding grimly to himself, Skyle once again called upon his shadow essence. This time, he stretched two strands of opaque smoke and found that he was still able to manipulate both without any difficulty. Though they did not feel like additional appendages, he felt they were more akin to obedient pets which seemed eager to follow his commands to the best of their abilities.

He willed them to surround a nearby strand of water essence. Instead of absorbing it into his own body, however, he directly infused the energy into one of the main channels which connected his magic circle to the greater water rune.

The ground immediately shook under his feet with an alarming rumble. Skyle spread both arms to his sides while casting startled looks around the entire magic array. Eventually, his arms came back down to his sides and he blew out a shaky breath he didn’t know he had been holding. His quick scan with the True Sight told him the integrity of the magic circle was still fine, but the entire strand of water essence had been channeled directly into the greater water rune. The spell structure had obviously not been designed to deal with the infusion of such pure essence all at once.

“Wait a second, Syrene mentioned Regis is the combination of innate elemental affinity and proficiency in wielding it.”

Skyle’s mouth hung open as realization struck him like a bucket of cold water. A mere Initiate or Adept level student would have neither the affinity nor the skill to isolate pure elemental essence strands and channel them directly into each corresponding greater rune. They would likely fumble around with handfuls of mixed elemental strands and clumsily grind them together into this central magic circle, all the while praying that enough of their particular essence would filter through and find its way to the correct rune.

“So that’s how they test for both affinity and skill.”

Skyle smiled in the first confident moment he had during this whole ordeal. Now that he finally understood the test, he knew exactly how he would play his cards. This time, there would be no unexpected surprises, and definitely no breaking of any priceless magical artifacts.

Wincing as he wondered just how heavy 225,000 gold coins would be, he shuddered and shook the errant thought from his head. Instead, he began to channel nearby strands into the magical circle at his feet. He did not seek out specific strands of one particular element nor did he care about their purity. Instead, he allowed the appendages of his shadow essence to sweep the immediate area of any elemental energy. Instead of carefully channeling each individual strand of elemental essence into the correct conduits which would feed into their corresponding greater runes, Skyle simply fed figurative handfuls of bunched up essence into the circle where he stood with careless abandon.

The only thing he devoted his entire focus on was maintaining a careful watch on the level of the water rune. He was determined not to allow any accidents to happen. The moment the rune reached 60% capacity, he would immediately stop. While he was tempted to go for a higher number, safe was always better than sorry.

“Well, maybe 70ish wouldn’t be so bad, either.”

Wiping a toothy grin off his face, Skyle quickly composed his features and cleared his throat. It was a good thing his back was facing the crowd, else the big, idiotic grin which kept surfacing back on his face would blow the whole charade.

The water rune steadily grew brighter as he kept feeding more elemental essence into his magic circle. After a minute or so, he began to see hints of a silhouette shining through the glow of the greater rune. His face twisted into a scowl as he narrowed his eyes and paid even more attention upon the water rune.

He had not been imagining things. Gradually, the hazy outline of a snake began to take shape above the rune. As more essence was fed into the magic circle, its outline gained contrast. After two more minutes, he was able to tell it would be about five feet long and as thick around as his own legs.

“What is that thing? Is the degree to which I can complete that image how they measure regis? Then this is going faster than I’d thought. Maybe I should slow down a little.”

Skyle figured about 5 minutes had passed. He distinctly recalled the other applicants back when he had first been tested had taken about 10 minutes to complete their tests. However, they had only lit up the rune and had been tested on how fully the rune was filled with power.

“Maybe it’s just the fancy academy version. Well, then let’s shoot for 11 or 12 minutes. After all, 70% is higher than average and should take a little longer than usual.”

The limbs of shadow essence quickly complied, slowing down as they swept across the essence energy gathered around Skyle. It might be his imagination, but he felt as though the movement of his innate essence was growing more agile. With every passing minute, he needed to focus less attention on their movements yet they still carried out his instructions without a hitch.

What pleased Skyle above all was the fact that he didn’t need any of the contrived incantations and gestures mages used to cast their spells. He wondered if this was how summoners manipulated their essence, only he had not even summoned any elemental spirits at all.

“Such power! No wonder the Lyrianis family ruled supreme for thousands of years.”

As he saw the features of the water snake grow clearer and more defined, he threw out a wild guess and estimated that it had reached around 30% capacity or so. Strangely, for the past 5% or so, the speed at which the snake was solidifying had noticeably slowed down. Upon closer examination with the True Sight, Skyle was startled to find additional conduits growing out of the snake and attaching themselves to the greater water rune.

Skyle grumbled under his breath as he realized that the greedy little snake would need to consume more and more essence as it continued to materialize. Grudgingly, he had to admit it made sense. Otherwise, wouldn’t high 90th percentile scores like the twins’ be as easy to pick up as turnips from his farm? The road to the peak was always a perilous journey that only grew tougher the higher one climbed.

“Well, hell if I’ll let a tiny little snake get the better of me. Go shadow essence, go!”

The twin strands of shadow essence leapt at his command, displaying speed and agility that surprised Skyle. They were moving almost twice as fast as before! Even with the increased speed, they were still accurately scooping up more strands of elemental essence and feeding them into the channels. They were even sorting a few of the strands into different channels, almost as though they were aware that such actions would increase their efficiency.

“Damn, just how smart is my blood?”

Skyle snickered to himself as he kept his eyes fixed upon the growing water snake. By now, individual scales began to make their appearance, sparkling with a deep blue luster that gleamed under the intense glow of elemental energy. They sprouted from its tail first, then began to make their way up toward its head.

Around 50% or so, the water snake’s facial features were finally revealed. It possessed deep eyes that gleamed with like polished sapphires. Sharp nostrils could be distinguished over long whiskers that curled back from its head.

“Wait, whiskers? Is it some sort of eel instead? Bah, no matter. Only 20% more to go, then I can finally end this whole charade. At least the people in the crowd are keeping their words to themselves this time around.”

Come to think of it, there had been an eerie silence dominating the room for quite a while now. Curious, Skyle was finally able to relax enough that he dared to use his Infinite Eye to cast a searching glance behind his back.

His blood ran cold when he saw the shocked gazes of every soul standing beyond the magic circle. Most students were clutching at each other with pale hands while their teeth chattered nonstop. Others held trembling fingers to their bloodless lips, heedless of the deep flush coloring their cheeks. Even the masters wobbled unsteadily on their feet. The one constant was that they were all staring at the space above Skyle’s head with eyes that burned with a feverish light.

“What the.. What is it now?”

His heart convulsing in his chest, Skyle tried to push down the panic he felt. It was only when he spanned his sight around and read the glowing letters floating across the magic circle’s barrier that he truly felt the icy claws of despair dig in.

Elemental Regis Test Active

Subject: Warrior Student Skyle Farrow, Class Undetermined.

Elemental Affinity Score:

Water 53% (Rising)

Earth 46% (Rising)

Wind 44% (Rising)

Fire 41% (Rising)

Elemental Proficiency Rating: To be determined.

Elemental Regis Score: To be determined.

“What? Four elements at once? Impossible!”