The Tang twins sat back to back in a semi-hidden cave, the bodies of a couple of stone wolves piled precariously in the corner. Seira was bleeding from some superficial injuries, but overall, their health wasn't the problem. It was their mana supply.

"Remember: you're not pulling it in as much as you're letting it bring itself towards you. Try again."

Kiro did as he was told, once more trying the passive cultivation technique. He looked inwards to his core and his channels, opening them up to the wide world. They were barely a quarter of the way filled after his exertions, which Seira said made this process a lot easier.

He focused on that lower concentration, calling on the ambient mana around them to make it whole again. The last few times he had tried to do this, it hadn't responded. This time, though, something clicked. A slow trickle of mana began to filter into his channels, moving to fill the void in his core. He opened his eyes, relaxing.

"I did it!" he exclaimed.

"You did it."

Despite her nonchalant words, he could practically hear the grin on Seira's face.

She sighed. "But do you think it'll make any difference?"

"What do you mean?"

"I put everything into that attack against the drake, and it just shook me off like a bug."

He propped himself up, giving her some more support. "Yeah. I get what you mean."

Fire might have done good against someone of an air or floral aspect, but they were surrounded by a swarm of stone. Even those wolves had been hard to take down, and that was just earth. What if they had to fight water-aspected beasts? They wouldn’t be able to do a thing. He sat there, recovering his mana and pondering.

Without warning, a head of silver hair popped out from the cave's entrance. "I see you two are feeling quite down."

"Saints' skies!" Seira screamed, shooting upright.

"Saints' skies indeed," he smirked.

Aer climbed in, replacing the fallen branches they had used to camouflage the hole.

"Just so you know, Rynn managed to fend off the drake. He's currently sitting in that little fort you made, cultivating. I anticipate that he'll finish this challenge no problem."

Kiro sighed. Of course he did.

"How?"

"Yeah," Seira said. "My most powerful attack barely scratched that thing. Fire only burns so hot…"

Aer removed a couple water bottles from the bags at her waist, levitating them to the twins' sides.

"Drink up. You know, I'm not even manipulating the air around these things. Rain is a part of storms, and —"

Seira's eyes widened.

"Aer, that thing you told us about ascending aspects…"

The Saint smiled. "Yep! Rynn did it, and you can too."

He opened his mouth to ask what all this was about, but Seira abruptly closed her eyes, cultivating. Aer put a finger to her lips, gesturing for him to watch.

***

Seira looked into her core. She felt the energy that permeated it, formed it, changed it into what it was now. This wasn’t fire, but rather the platonic ideal of fire, its very being condensed into an intangible, immeasurable force.

This same energy flowed throughout her, following crude patterns painstakingly forged for her by the matriarch herself. She would have to reshape those later, but that wasn't what she was here to do.

She sank into the sea of flame, letting it envelop her conscience. She was the foremost of a clan born of this element, shaped by its will since the day she was born. She was its leading disciple, and its highest talent. If anyone knew fire, it was her. Yet, it simply would not do. It was too limited, too crude, too base. She needed more.

With a start, she felt a change occur. Her mana responded to her need, using it as a catalyst to direct its change. An array of potential directions flooded her mind, but she already knew her path. Her Elders always boasted of the destructive potential of fire — why not cut the middleman out?

She reached out to her new aspect, fusing it with her mana. Her core thrummed with unexpected power, wave after wave of change running through it. Yes! She could feel it! A wave spread through her soul, refining crude flame into pure, focused, destruction.

Then, as the transformation reached a crescendo, something went wrong. A distinct falling sensation encompassed her. No! It was as if she was climbing a mountain, and had now lost her grip. She desperately grabbed for a handhold, something, anything to complete her soul's transformation. And, when she was starting to think that she had permanently damaged her spirit, something caught. It felt like destruction, but different in a way she couldn't describe. That was good enough for her. With an enormous mental effort, she accepted the aspect, and collapsed.

***

Kiro looked at his sister, horrified. As soon as her transformation had started, he had jumped away in fear. Black and purple sparks danced on her skin, eroding the stone around her. Her head bobbed back and forth, as if she was struggling to stay conscious.

He grabbed onto her shoulders, steadying her while he tried to better sense what was happening in her spirit. This new aspect was slowly creeping through her soul, but it wasn't empowering her core like he thought it would have. It was like watching a woman being burned alive.

Aer frowned, kneeling next to him.

"This isn't good. When you ascend your aspect, you're supposed to take it slow, like climbing a ladder. Instead, she has decided to fling herself up by only the strength of her arms."

"Please, Aer, can you help her?" he pleaded.

"I will, if she needs me. However, it looks like she's finally got a hold on it."

The sparks had disappeared, replaced by a red and green haze. This time, though, her hair was also affected. Her former black and red locks now also housed streaks of brilliant jade. For a moment, he panicked, thinking that she had gotten worse. He needn’t have worried, though. With a flash of mana, the transformation finished its course, and Seira stretched herself, looking as healthy as ever.

“Phew! That was stressful.”

Kiro started at her, shaking his stinging palms.

“You nearly crippled your soul, and that’s all you have to say? Seira, I thought that you had lost control of it!”

Seeing his concern, she deflated.

"I felt like I could do it because Aer would be able to help if I messed up, but now that I think about it I actually don't know if you can, Aer. And I still don't know what my new aspect is."

Aer put a hand on her back, nodding.

"I could have, but yeah, that was reckless of you. Still, Rynn was even worse."

They stared at her.

“What do you mean? Her soul was nearly torn to shreds!”

"Yep. Rynn also tried to ascend multiple 'steps', but he didn't even have the sense to wait until I was there to do so."

Seira itched her brave mark, which had gained also a few verdant specks. "Well, did he succeed?"

“He did. I'm sure he'll tell you the details himself later, but right now, I think you have a bit of a problem.”

She was right. A group of rock monsters waited at the entrance, presumably drawn to Seira's ascension. The were being held back by a wall of wind at the moment, but…

With a wink, Aer released her technique. "Alright, Seira. Let's see what you can do!"