Chapter Five

Elysia took a step back and surveyed each statue while in thought.

The safe option would be balance, of course, but did she really want to cap her potential? Did it really cap her potential, though? Did she have the potential to reach the peak of either control or power? If a goddess blessed her, she had to have high potential. It would be stupid to waste it by taking the safe option.

That left either power or control. As much as she loved to smite things like she was Zeus, did she want to lock herself into relying on the system to use her magic? She knew a massive power boost awaited her if she chose power and she wouldn’t have to worry about learning how to control her own lightning. She might not even be able to supercharge her skills like before, but going by what she felt from the statue, she doubted she would need to boost anything. It felt like she was cheating if she used the system for everything, though. Not that she had any choice in relying on the system. If it wasn’t for whatever brought the system to the world, she would be dead.

Control seemed to rely on her to reach for power. She wouldn’t get the power boost from skills the statue seemed to allude to, but did she really need more power? So far, very few things could stand up to her lightning. If she were to improve her control, she could do so much more than simply smiting enemies. The idea of controlling electronics especially interested her.

She wouldn’t have a set path for growth if she chose control though and with her lack of teachers, that might bite her in the ass. Still, she survived till now while stumbling around in the dark and it wasn’t like the control path didn’t improve her power as well. All three paths easily eclipsed her current power, so again, did she really need more power?

She wasn’t alone anymore. She didn’t need to rely on her own power to survive. It might be better for her and her family if she grew more versatile. Besides, she could find items or use her environment to improve the impact of her magic. Sereia’s water magic coupled with her lightning was also a dangerous combo. Plus, who knew what absurdity Ione may achieve in the future?

As much as she needed to think about the now, she didn’t want to hurt her future just for more power, but more power could open up her future sooner.

Elysia’s eyes flicked between the left and right statues, each one tempting her, but deep down she knew which path felt right to her despite its risks. She wanted to grasp for her own power, not have it handed to her. If she failed, it would be her own fault, though with the support she now had, failure felt unlikely.

With confident stride she approached the control path statue and rested her hand on the statue’s shoulder. As soon as the notification popped up, she gave a mental confirmation, only for a warning to cause her to pause.

Warning! Embarking on the path of control will wipe all active skills, including any progress made.

Losing the little progress she made on her skills hurt, but she knew that would be the price for this path. Hopefully, she kept her passive skills and resistances. Though she wouldn’t mind losing the ladybug hatred, not that she ran into any ladybugs outside of Port Alberni.

No risk, no reward. She would have to take the gamble and hope for the best. She already made her decision she couldn’t back out now. Besides, if she picked the power path, she would probably discard most of her skills anyway for hopefully better ones.

After a deep breath, mostly out of habit, she sent her confirmation.

Proceeding with class evolution.

A moment later, something ripped from her mind, causing her to black out for a blink. Instantly, she noticed a void in her mind about her active skills. She still remembered what each skill did, but she couldn’t activate them any longer, nor did she know exactly how to replicate them, not that it would stop her from trying later.

Another reason she made the right choice. If she controlled her lightning herself, she couldn’t have it ripped out of her so easily. Though that didn’t mean the system wasn’t capable of still doing it. She couldn’t rely on the system to pave the way to power. She needed to create her own path and if she was right, the control path should allow her the freedom to do so.

Any further thoughts stalled as the lightning packed into her veins began to move on its own. Her body seized up as her veins stretched near the breaking point, but she was helpless to stop it. All she could do was watch the lightning circulate through her body. Some absorbed into her already lightning bloated body, adding an uncomfortable tingle to the barrage of pain. The rest flowed through her body until it reached her core. Her eyes widened in panic, knowing her core was already at the bursting point, but yet again, all she could do was watch as the lightning flowed in.

Her core vibrated on the verge of exploding, but it held on, at least for the moment.

If she weren’t paralyzed with pain, she would double over, clutching her chest as red hot fire pokers stabbed through her, but her body remained ramrod straight with her right hand glued to the statue.

Just as the core seemed primed to explode, a ding resonated through her mind, but she remained focused on her core, desperately praying to anyone who would listen to not let it explode.

Fortunately, whatever the ding represented seemed to be a good thing, as the pressure on her core vanished almost instantly. Like a switch flipped, her bloated core gave way to a deep hunger which the lightning flowing in failed to sate.

On instinct, her attention snapped to the statue, still brimming with power. She latched onto the lightning and pulled with all her might, desperate to stave off the bottomless hunger.

The statue resisted, but her will refused to give in, earning an almost audible snap, then the lightning dwarfing the power of her own lightning rushed into her body as if a damn shattered. Her already tender veins strained against the inrush but, like her core, they appeared much stronger than they were only moments before. Still, the lightning scorched them, causing her body to seize, but with a single-minded, almost animalistic drive, she greedily gulped down the lightning. Despite its extreme speed, she willed it faster, shooting it through her veins in a blur.

Unfortunately, despite her desire for it to flood her core, an outside force grabbed a hold of the lightning and cycled it through her veins, allowing a third of the incoming lightning to absorb into her body.

Any desire to force the lightning to her core vanished a pleasant warmth turned her muscles into mush. If it weren’t for the fact her hand remained glued to the statue, she would have collapsed.

Even without her active control, the statue continued to flood her body with lightning, as if the seal she broke was only a test.

The statue dimmed by the second mirrored by the other statues, removing any opportunity to suck them dry as well. Not that she could, even if she wanted to in her current state. She may as well be unconscious as her mind was blank as the lightning did its work nourishing her body and core in a specific pattern, as if it had a mind of its own.

Which it probably did since if Elysia was aware she would have noticed a familiar presence similar to the pill. Whether it was the goddess herself or a programmed routine built into the pill, she would never know.

Soon the statues dimmed to nothing, then crumbled to dust, allowing Elysia to collapse to the ground bonelessly.

Fortunately, the room itself remained existent, though without the light from the statues only her bright veins, shining through her armor, provided light.

The lightning within her body continued to circulate for a few more cycles before the remaining lightning entered her core.

The moment the last bit of lightning entered her core, her body jerked as if jumpstarted. She remained crumpled on the floor, but internally her body returned to normal functionality with her core pulsing like a heartbeat. Though, like the statue, her lightning had a significantly more powerful feel to it.

Several minutes passed before her blank eyes blinked as clarity returned. With the clarity, a feeling of power radiated through her body all previous pain long gone. The urge to spring to her feet hit her, but before she could act on it, several notifications made their presence known.

Path of Divine Lightning Control embarked. May your journey bring you to your goals.

Effects: 15 attribute points per level, +5% Charge per Level, +25% Max Charge, Tier 10 Level 1 Lightning, Tier 5 Level 1 Divine Lightning.

That was all? She felt like she gained more from her last evolution. Though she knew she wouldn’t gain any active skills, she thought she might get something passive. Maybe she did. Her affinity shot up, plus she gained divine lightning affinity.

Curious, she sat up and summoned lightning from her core, finding it almost as easy as it was prior to evolving into an elemental. Though she was under no illusions she had complete control of such potent lightning. Even though she could manipulate the small amount, it constantly fought against her.

As carefully as she could, she sent the single strand through her body to her right hand. She aimed her hand at the wall to her right before releasing the payload.

A squeak escaped her when her arm recoiled back upon release. Pain radiated through her shoulder as her ears popped from the following crack, but she kept her eyes on the blinding bright lightning. It zigzagged wildly through the room before grounding itself on the floor several meters away from her target.

Contrary to her expectations, the floor remained unscathed, but then she remembered this wasn’t a real room. At least she thought it wasn’t. Last time her body stayed in her bedroom, though, she could have teleported to some pocket dimension for all she knew. Her body felt real, including the throbbing in her shoulder, which gradually diminished.

As the pain in her shoulder vanished to nothing, another pain presented itself, directing her attention to her right hand. A scowl formed as she stared at her smoking ring. Seriously? She sent stronger lightning bolts through the ring. Why couldn’t handle this? Her chain lightning barrage had to have strained the ring more.

Fortunately, the ring cooled down soon after. She poked it, finding it still intact, learning her lesson she didn’t feed any lightning through it. Hopefully, it survived. Though did she really need it anymore? The whole point of the ring was to improve her control, but wasn’t that the whole point of her new path control? That lightning sure didn’t act like it was under control. Still, she hoped it didn’t break. She never got a chance to test out the storage function and with her upgraded max charge, she could probably support a pretty big space.

That thought prompted her to check her status.

Status:

Name: Elysia Arashi

Race: Level 1 Divine Sparked Lightning Elemental.

Class: Level 1 Path of Divine Lightning Control.

Charge: 11701/16701

Attributes:

Available Points: 80

Strength: T2-12

Dexterity: T2-41

Endurance: T2-12

Intelligence: T2-41

Perception: T2-41

Proficiencies:

Novice Spear Level 8.

Novice Throwing Knives Level 5.

Affinities:

Tier 10 Level 1 (6) Lightning.

Tier 5 Level 1 Divine Lightning.

Resistances:

Death Resistance Level 1

Water Resistance Level 1.

Poison Resistance Level 2.

Mental Resistance Level 5.

Bonus

+70% (100%) Damage with Lightning.

+10% Damage to undead.

+10% Damage to Arthropod.

+15% Damage to Ladybugs.

Solo Adventuring +10% Solo Experience, -20% Group Experience.

Skills

A Moment In Time.

Bonds

Sereia.

Umbra.

Ione.

Her eyes zeroed in on her charge. How did she use five thousand charge already? The evolution had to have topped her off. Did that single strand cost her a thousand charge? It would explain the power. Maybe it had something to do with the divine lightning. It had to be costly to use something divine.

Hopefully, she found a way to siphon off normal lightning. If a single strand of divine lightning costed that much, she needed to use it sparingly. She chose the path of control for the freedom, but with her divine lightning she almost felt like when she first started. All it would take was a few attacks and she would be empty. She needed to spend some time experimenting.

No wonder her ring fried. Fortunately, it looked like it still functioned. It still gave her the damage boost and affinity boost to her regular lightning affinity. Just the point she had a regular lightning affinity meant it should be possible to use it and not the divine lightning.

She paused on the skills tab, breathing a sigh of relief upon finding her hard earned skill from her attributes remained. Thankfully, the purge only hit class based active skills though was A Moment in Time active? From the description, it seemed more like a passive skill. Unless she intentionally endangered her life, it wouldn’t activate.

Upon closing her status, several more notifications made their presence known, but a quick glance told her they were from the typical snarky system, prompting her to wave them away. Fortunately, even though she ignored them, she still received the 20 attribute points.

Why didn’t she think of ignoring the notifications before? Much better to just collect the rewards and ignore the snark. The system rarely said anything useful, anyway. At least this time it must have liked what she did, since it gave her more attribute points. That didn’t mean she wanted to read the snark.

Elysia took one last scan of the room before sending her desire to leave to the prompt floating in her mind.

An instant later, she found herself on a rock. Almost against her will, her gaze gravitated to her right, making eye contact with a pair of judgmental greenish blue eyes drilling holes through her.