Chapter 180

Lykan

Complete Foundation

To say that Lykan was motivated to continue to improve was an understatement. When he constantly had to compare himself to his partner, to the spark of inspiration that constantly forced him to push father, to aim higher. She was amazing in every single way to him. Every stride forward, every advancement was made to make sure he could protect her. Every piece of understanding and piece of enlightenment was made to help find ways that a future could exist where they both could live in harmony.

That was the goal at least, to eventually get so strong that their world would never be in danger. The only problem with that goal was there seemed to be a huge power gap between the Titans, and the masters who directed the weakest of Titans to their planet. Titans who even now caused problems for most of the planet’s inhabitants.

This gap in power was what always forced Lykan to push himself forward, to constantly strive to be the best form of himself. He honestly did not know how much more powerful the so called masters would be, all he could tell was that they had to be immensely powerful if they could subjugate an entire race of being to go out to underdeveloped planets in an attempt to terraform the newly identified planet. Planets that they would go to, only after the planet had been fully corrupted by qi.

The only problem, he was too late.

His planet was on an unstoppable path to being changed. Now all he could do was prepare himself and others to be ready. To be as powerful as possible for the moment the masters inevitably came.

What good were titles like being the world’s strongest man, when men were clearly weaker than Titans, who themselves were considered weaker than the Masters.

These were the thoughts that pushed Lykan forward, thoughts that made him constantly strive to improve himself.

Added to his own personal desire to make sure he could at least put up a token resistance to the invading forces, was the fact that Brenna his wife, as recognized and officiated by the gods was amazing. She grasped concepts far faster than Lykan had.

When he compared himself to even her, he felt lacking and oh so grateful that she had settled for him. How such a wonderful person ever fell for him, he could not tell, but he was immensely happy for her.

Even now, as his body was going through the recent changes he had made to his own body. How he had stripped out his previous cultivation and replaced it with a complete overhaul of a fused concept. One that he instinctively knew would be better in the long run.

While he stripped out his old cultivation, he had to be thankful for his past experiences. Had he not endured the pain and hardships of his past, of having his own mana channels burned away from his very body, he would not have been able to endure the recent changes he now felt.

Or rather the changes he had undergone to strip away his old set cultivation, before replacing that cultivation with a concept that could incorporate power from all four elements simultaneously, or individually as needed.

So complete was the overhaul, that even now he could feel phantom pains. Or maybe the term would be lingering soul damage. Damage that was so intense that, if he had not been right next to Brenna, if he had not wanted her to not be frightened of what would happen next, he would have likely cried out in pain. Particularly when he felt blood vessels burst from within his eyes.

Fortunately for him, his new ability to focus with his Tier III mind allowed him to continue to work through the pain. In a way it almost felt like he was able to take his mind outside his body and focus on the changes that needed to be done. That was how he continued with the worst of the changes. He focused on his body that sat perfectly still, while his own mind and consciousness looked on at him as an external spectator.

From that external position, he was able to rip away every strand of original cultivation. Then before his raw and exposed meridians even had time to process their exposure, he once again moved to replace his previous cultivation channels with his new concept. With his interwoven aspects that not only took the exact paths as the raw and exposed meridians, but also pushed them out, expanding them beyond their original form until they were three times larger than previously. This size was needed, as that was the only way Lykan could logically link all four elements together.

Again, the entire process was painful, and could best be described as torture.

Still Lykan did it, focusing on the future, rather than his past mistakes. While he had no problem with the choices he made at first, they were ultimately limiting. Unfortunately, Lykan needed those previous understandings to get to his current level of understanding. Everything that had happened to him was all for a reason.

There would not be a complete mastery of all four elements without at least understanding his first element of Air. From there, the understanding of the other four elements slowly came with time, as he compared their relationship to Air.

All this was Lykan’s way of justifying his self-mutilation. All of this was to say that he was now behind where he could be had he devoted himself fully to Air.

Instead, he now found himself with his new blessing. Though blessings were not quite the correct term for what happened. Blessings would imply that these were granted by the gods. Instead, Lykan now thought that these so-called blessings were ways that the gods could communicate with people. That by sending messages in the forms of blessings, the gods could directly impact the world around them.

This was the way the gods used to tell people if they were advancing themselves in the right direction. With that understanding in mind, Lykan was pleasantly surprised to receive his most recent blessing. One that came with a follow-on definition for clarity’s sake.

Blessing Bestowed: First Tier Omni-Cultivation You have managed to push your mind and body to the ultimate stage of understanding the elemental forces that bind the world together. Your ability to gain and alter qi from one elemental form to another is complete. Reward: Complete Cultivation. All Attributes +10. Ability to cultivate with all elements. Elemental dominion. Elemental Dominion: You are assumed to have control over any element when competing against another cultivator of equal or lesser cultivation Tier rating to you.

That was it, the culmination of nearly eight years’ worth of work, study, and sweat. Everything Lykan had worked for, over the past eight years was summarized in those lines.

Of course, this only showed his changes in cultivation.

He still knew he had experienced many changes in the form of his own personal understanding of the world. His life, his purpose, had been altered so many times over the past years that he would hardly recognize himself.

In fact, it seemed that most of this past year was spent dealing with the fallout from how poorly he had left everything. Every action he took as a youth trying to make his way in the world cost him. Actions he took at the time, actions he thought were the for the best ended up costing countless citizens their lives.

These were the thoughts that Lykan used to temper himself. If he wanted to change the world to a better place, he first needed to temper his own will and expectations to make it so he was ready for the changes that he would bring.

Opening his eyes, he was rewarded with a beautiful sight. Looking out he could see Brenna glowing brightly with the power of the earth infusing her body. Seeing her form, he couldn’t help but smile.

She all but radiated power and confidence, two things that made her even more alluring to his eyes. He still thanked to gods for their involvement in their pairing.

Before he had trained her on how to be independent, now he was glad she did not leave, as he was uncertain how he could push himself forward without her by his side.

“I guess I should now call you master.” Lykan said, bowing to Brenna’s recent accomplishment.

It was clear that she now towered above him, at least in ability to control and cultivate earth qi.

Brenna just smiled at the comment.

“Stop that, you know your comprehension of all the elements far outstrips my own. Also, where would I be if not for you.” Brenna said, though a faint blush filled her features.

That was a sight that brought a smile to Lykan’s face.

Cough.

Pentra coughed awkwardly.

“I still don’t know exactly what you two are saying, but can you please not do whatever that is in front of me?” Pentra asked in the Titan language.

Lykan just turned his attention to his newest protégé. The one who was on the path of water. Looking at her, Lykan could see the way her aspects of water qi barely clung to her. With but a thought, Lykan knew that he could, if needed, pull the very energy from her body.

This was an odd feeling, and one that unsettled Lykan. Why would he need to rip out the energy from Pentra. Then an equally disturbing thought hit him, one where he knew he would need to practice just such a technique against Pentra. He also knew that he would need to quickly improve himself to the second tier of cultivation again, particularly if he was going to be prepared for the burning cinder that was barreling from space right now.

Looking up at the sky, Lykan could see the faint red glare that loomed ominously over the night sky.

Destiny.

That was what Lykan called the red flare. The closer the burning star came, the more Lykan felt a mounting pressure to move and be prepared to intercept whatever came from that flare.

“So where to now?” Pentra found herself asking, after Lykan let his mind drift off in thought about the impending doom that was signified by the falling rock.

Pausing to himself, Lykan took in a breath, then said the destination that was filling his mind. A destination that was becoming more and more clear about where he would need to be. The place where he would need to confront the red flare and the monster that the red flare inevitably contained. A monster that would be released upon the world as a devouring plague, unless Lykan and his two students could do anything to stop the monster.

That was why Lykan knew he had to be there, right at the moment of impact, at the exact moment when the monster would be the most disoriented. That was when Lykan would need to be present and strike the beast before it had time to adjust to the harsh environment. An environment that was perfect for a hybrid like Lykan, but one that would be absolute torture for any being just arriving. A being that would be expecting a qi saturated planet, one that would be close to being fully integrated.

While there was almost nothing Lykan could do to stop the inevitable change of the world, there was something he could do now. Something he could do to help head off the inevitable demise of his planet.

“We will head to the dark continent.” Lykan began, then paused as he looked at Pentra. “During that time, we will require you to be extra vigilant. We will need to go over the endless ocean. An ocean that is filled with leviathan and other monsters of storm and sea. You will be in charge of getting us to land safely. I have to wonder if it is fate that brought you to us, or some greater power that set our courses on an inevitable collision course. But I am thankful all the same that you are here with us. During our journey you will need to get to the second Tier of your own personal cultivation, otherwise you will likely die in the ensuing conflict that is sure to come.”

At that, Pentra’s red eyes went wide, as she took I exactly what her master was saying. A master who by all accounts, had no reason to trust her. Yet, here he was, effectively saying not only would she lead the way to a land mass that she was only tangentially aware of, but that she would then have to increase her cultivation rank while piloting a ship? Such demands were impossible, but yet, she knew Lykan and knew that he would not present her with a task that he didn’t feel she was capable of achieving. Realizing that, Pentra nodded in agreement.

With that Lykan too nodded, before rising to his feet, then as if asking what the two would like to eat, he made the next comment.

“Now we just need to find a boat.”