Chapter Forty-Two

In a scene mirroring her arrival in the training room, the respect the elementals gave her shot right into awkward territory. She debated whether she should ask where the vault was.

After a moment of thought, she decided against it. It would be stupid to give away why she was on their mountain, even if these elementals seemed on her side.

Elysia remained where she was even after the elementals waved her inside. The temptation to smite the group of elementals, which Ione confirmed were the only other beings in the complex, presented itself. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. They weren’t hostile to her. It would be a waste of life to kill them.

When the lead elemental, who was about as strong as the head instructor, noticed they weren’t following, she spun and bowed deeply. “We are sorry if we caused offence. We only wish to bring you to a setting more in line with your station. Not that we would assume anything in our humble town would match your home.”

A sigh escaped Elysia, unable to keep of her impassive front any longer. “Look, I don’t trust you. So far, your people haven’t been the friendliest. All I wish to know is how to continue further up the mountain and if there are any dangers I need to look out for.”

Again, the elementals bowed deeply with the lead elemental, breaking the silence. “I understand your divine highness. I wouldn’t dare to presume anything on our humble mountain could match up to your divine lightning, but I would watch out for our heir. He guards the palace while our Lord hunts with our army.”

Elysia frowned. She hoped every powerful elemental had left, but apparently she was wrong. Still, that didn’t change anything. She still needed to reach the divine vault, then find a way to prevent the space elemental from stealing what the vault contained.

The elemental panicked as she thought Elysia’s frown meant she took offense, causing her to stammer. “We aren’t doubting your divine lightning. We just wanted to warn you about the strongest elemental aside from yourself and your marvelous feline elemental. He has a blessing from a God of lightning, giving him access to a lesser form of divine lightning, nothing compared to the real thing you have.”

The longer she spent around these lesser elementals, the more she wanted to avoid them. She was starting to understand why many celebrities hid away in their compounds, only appearing in public if they needed to feed their narcissism or to promote a project. If she succeeded, she needed a long break away from people. Maybe travel the world with her family.

To move on as quick as possible, she drilled her shining violet eyes into the head elemental, finding the elementals useless. Elemental hierarchy was really rigid. It seems like only the strongest of each group spoke while the rest remained mute. She couldn’t see herself ever just going along with what someone else said, even if it was her own family.

That was one of the many differences between her and a regular elemental. Even before she received divinity, she never felt like she was inferior to anyone. They may have been stronger, but she wouldn’t simply submit herself.

“Could you please direct me past this complex? As much as I would love to indulge your hospitality, I am in a hurry.”

They stood ramrod straight at the command, as if lightning struck them. “As you wish, your divine highness. We will guide you at once.”

Like a troop of soldiers, they did an about turn and marched back the way they came, with Elysia and Ione following after a momentary delay. If they lured them into a trap, she would smite them down.

While following the elementals through several gates which opened as they approached, Ione relayed images of their path ahead showing nothing but a long hallway broken out by gates. Still, despite the clear path ahead, Elysia held onto a strand of lightning, ready to release it at a moment’s notice.

A glance at her charge caused her to pause. Since she entered the complex, she didn’t gain Max Charge. Her current charge remained topped off, though. The incoming lightning was enough to sustain her body indefinitely.

Maybe the facility used up too much lightning essence. At least she hoped that was the case. She wanted to continue to raise her Max Charge, especially if she had to face a powerful elemental soon.

Finally, after several minutes of walking, they reached a last gate far bigger than every gate before. Lightning sparked from all the elementals, causing Elysia to tense, but instead of striking her, the plain blue lightning from each elemental shot toward the crystal embedded at the center of the gate.

There was a several second pause before the crystal shined then the gate creaked open, revealing a steep path leading up the mountain.

Before the elementals could even turn back, Elysia and Ione shot off through the gate and up the mountain. They veered off the path soon after, only to return to the path, finding the mountain was too treacherous to traverse at their pace without staying on the path.

As they ran, Elysia spotted dozens of creatures of lightning shining in all colors wandering about on the mountain. The creatures gathered whenever lightning struck, which was often. Worried they stole her lightning, Elysia glanced at her notifications only to freeze, core fluttering in excitement and relief.

Max Charge +25

Max Charge +25

Max Charge +25

The notifications continued every couple of core pulses, shooting her max charge right past 15,000. Unfortunately, the moment it crossed the 15,000 mark that gains plummeted down to five per notification.

Her max charge still increased at a steady rate but unsatisfied, she had Ione stop as she consolidated her lightning. With practiced ease, she merged every strand, dropping her max charged by half.

User’s split core has been consolidated. +50 Divine lightning, Lightning affinities, -50% Max Charge.

Her fears of her charge dropping by more than half turned out to be false, at least so far.

Upon glancing at the notifications flowing in, she nearly jumped, lightning charging through her.

Max Charge +50

Max Charge +50

Max Charge +50

Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. As soon as her max charge reached 8000, it dropped to 30. Then 25 at 10,000. At that point, they felt confident enough to continue on.

Within seconds, she realized she forgot to calibrate her body as all the lightning creatures nearby stopped and dropped to the ground under the pressure of her aura.

She wasn’t sure if it was out of respect or just pure power. It was hard to gauge their reaction, as many of the creatures didn’t even have faces.

Even after she calibrated her body, limiting essence leakage, the lightning creatures avoided them as they passed, as if terrified by her presence. Elysia tried her best to ignore them as they streaked up the mountain even faster than before because of Ione’s jump in power from absorbing the excess lightning from her consolidation.

She attempted to quell the feeling of superiority as they traveled, knowing arrogance could be their downfall. They wouldn’t fall into the same trap as the elementals they faced. Just because they were strong, that didn’t mean they were invincible.

With a path to follow, they made quick time reaching another outpost minutes later about three quarters of the way up the mountain. Oddly, this outpost appeared unmanned, but the massive gate was obstacle enough.

They turned off the path to circle around, but the now jagged mountain proved too much. Even the creatures didn’t attempt to travel by foot, instead opting to float over the jagged rocks. The razor-sharp stone spikes appeared unnatural, which they probably were.

Left with no choice, they turned back to the gate. Ione leaned back, ready to leap. Lightning sparked as she rocketed airborne Elysia clutching to her back. Despite the gate’s ten meters plus height, Ione soared over the top.

As soon as they landed, the gate lit up as an ear piercing alarm sounded. Lightning bolts struck them from dozens of crystals mounted on the top, but they did nothing to either of them. If anything, they spiked Elysia’s growing Max Charge.

They shot off nothing but a blur as Ione pushed herself to the limit, trying to put as much distance as she could between them and the gate in case something came that could actually hurt them. The towering gate shrunk in the distance as they streaked up the mountain, only to run into another gate.

Not even bothering to slow down, Ione launched herself airborne, shooting over the gate without breaking stride like an Olympic hurdler. Several more gates, each one larger than the last, impeded them.

Ione panted by the time they cleared the fifth gate, despite the constant recharging. Her body could only run for so long. Like most felines she wasn’t meant to run for long distances. She was a short distance sprinter who had enough speed to clear long distances before wearing herself out.

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on what they faced, a palace like structure loomed in front of them. Unlike the complex below, which had a medieval utilitarian look built out of gray stone, this palace had polished metal along the walls, lightning of various colors sparking off it.

From their vantage point, it was hard to see past the wall, but she knew the inside was just as striking.

To give Ione a rest, Elysia hopped off, hand stroking Ione’s head between her ears as they approached the walls at a leisurely pace. There was no point in rushing in with all the alarms that set off. Whoever lived within knew they were coming, even if the elementals below didn’t warn them.

As she predicted, the gate opened as they approached, creaking ominously as it revealed lightning soaked metal within. Literally everything was made out of metal. A never ending storm sent lightning bolts down onto the structure, lighting up glowing veins etched into the metal.

With each step, lightning surged into her body so much so that she was sure most would fry to a crisp. It was truly a hostile environment for anyone but a lightning elemental. That just meant it was a paradise for her race. With each pulse of her core, her Max Charge shot up a hundred reaching twenty thousand before she made it halfway through the courtyard.

Both of them scanned their surroundings, but no one came to greet them. To make it worse, the metal interfered with Ione’s senses, leaving them blind to what lay beyond the courtyard. Though if she were to guess, it was likely more metal with a side of hostile elementals.

She couldn’t see herself living in a palace made of nothing but metal. Sure, the rainbow of electricity sparking off the walls and veins shining gave it a colorful look, but it all felt too clinical. There was no life, just metal and lightning.

Though she couldn’t deny the lightning felt wonderful. She doubted any flora could survive under the constant barrage of lightning anyway. If she had the chance, she would bask in the lightning for a while, even if she didn’t want to live in the place.

The double doors inlaid with blue and yellow glowing veins opened on their own on the opposite side of the courtyard, causing Elysia to jump and spin lightning at the ready.

After several seconds, no one came, but that didn’t mean it would be smart to enter the obvious trap. Though she already entered the courtyard so it wasn’t like she had an escape.

Elysia reached for a throwing knife, only to realize she wasn’t wearing armor, spiking her anxiety. The only weapon she had was her lightning. Something no one could take away from her.

With lightning sparking off her fingertips, she squared her shoulders and strode forward with Ione prowling to her right.