Lassim felt the weight of Elder Taltos’ words pressing heavily on his shoulders. The realization that his cultivation journey might have reached a dead end left him feeling hollow.
Elder Taltos, seeing Lassim’s despair, his own expression softened with sympathy. Taltos offered a suggestion, "Though it would truly be difficult… I’d say all hope is not yet lost. If you can find yourself a divine artifact or an equally powerful item to weaken the crystal, perhaps soften it or make it more brittle in some way, you may still be able to advance by shattering your soul crystal.
However, finding such an item would be like searching for a needle in a haystack the size of the entire world. You’d need to enter a God’s trial ground for any luck at such a thing."
Lassim’s spirits lifted slightly at the possibility. "A God’s trial ground? I heard the sect has the Lightning God’s trial ground, and the next yearly trial is scheduled in another month. But I was told as a new recruit I haven’t earned the merit points to enter this year...."
Taltos nodded. "You can try to power through missions for the next month, but it’s highly unlikely to attain enough points for a slot in such a short time. You would be better off obtaining special permission from the Sect Master to enter instead. He should hear you out and work on a deal with you."
Hearing this, Lassim’s heart sank. The Sect Master had always seemed to harbor a grudge against him. He knew that even if he asked the Sect Master, he might not be allowed entry.
Yet, he had no other choice. "I highly doubt it since his view on me is rather negative since we’ve met… Yet, like you suggested, it’s my only realistic chance in the short term. I’ll try and see if I can meet the Sect Master Volten once more and obtain permission."
Taltos looked at him and checked his wall clock. "Good luck, Lassim. We went a bit over the 1 hour time frame, but I won’t charge you anything extra for the assistance. Your secret is safe with me, but be wary of trusting others so easily. Should you need additional help, you can earn another tutoring token or pay to attend my classes. I hope you find the solution to your problem."
Lassim thanked Elder Taltos for his time and advice. Their session had run over an hour, but the elder was kind. His next step was to seek an audience with the Sect Master and hope for the best.
Leaving the elder’s residence, Lassim pulled out his schedule book. He recalled seeing a special lecture available to students that was offered by the Sect Master himself. He quickly scanned the pages for the date and time of the next lecture. Luck was on his side—the next session was in just two more days.
Determined to make the most of the time he had, Lassim returned to his quarters. Instead of moping around about the lack of ability to advance, he continued his attempts to shatter his soul crystal, each failure fueling his resolve to try and find a way to enter the God’s trial ground, even if the Sect Master disagreed. He needed a solution. If it came down to it, he’d try and find some other way.
In between attempts to shatter the crystal, he continued to work on refining his constellation visualization, ensuring that the image of the Leviathan breaking free from its chains atop the tsunami leading the storm was as vivid and detailed as possible.
Two days passed in a blur of meditation and frustration. The day of the Sect Master’s lecture arrived, and Lassim made his way to the designated location: the lightning pools just outside the sect walls, yet within the heart of the endless dunes.
The lightning pools were a breathtaking sight. Ponds of liquified lightning mana crackled with energy, surrounded by unique, sharp-petaled flowers that glowed a neon blue. The flowers swayed gently, responding to the static charge in the air.
These were the same pools mentioned by Mirana and Jiro during his time as a Servant ranked member of the sect just recently.
Lassim joined the large gathering of disciples already present, all waiting eagerly for the Sect Master’s arrival. The anticipation was palpable, as everyone quietly waited. Lassim noticed a bit of reverence filling the air as everyone kept to themselves.
As he stood among the crowd, Lassim’s mind raced with thoughts of how he would approach the Sect Master. He needed to be concise, respectful, and somehow persuasive in asking for this huge favor. This was probably going to be his one and only chance to secure the opportunity he desperately needed to advance to the Spirit Ascension stage until the next trials opening in another year’s time.
The Sect Master, Volten, arrived in a flash of lightning, his presence drew the attention of everyone around. His tall, but imposing figure radiated power, his eyes sharp despite the wrinkles that showed near his eyes. His vision swept over and assessed the assembled disciples.
"Disciples of the Lightning Sect," Volten began, his voice carrying effortlessly over the crowd. "I see we have many newcomers from the recent initiate ranks that have joined the sect. This shows your brilliance as you’ve all realized the opportunity to take advantage of the free lessons offered by the powerful members of the sect.
Today, I, this continent’s only Spirit Mystic cultivator, will demonstrate the principles of movement techniques that draw upon the power of lightning. This is an opportunity only afforded to those of the Lightning Sect, so listen well."
He paused dramatically, then suddenly his face twisted into an exaggeratedly serious expression. His pressure from his cultivation’s weight attached to his spirit sense weighed down on the group, "But before we start, let me share a little secret," he said, leaning in conspiratorially. "The secret to true lightning speed is…"
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He looked around and stared directly into every disciple’s eyes. They also leaned in, eager to hear the true secret that would allow them the true secret to one of the strongest elements in all of Nexaria. An element mainly known for its speed…
"... is eating a lot of spicy food!!!" He stood up straight like a typical merchant trying to sell wares on the street, adding, " That’s right, I recommend three spider’s tongue peppers for breakfast, every morning! I grew some in my garden last night. Who wants to try and obtain the secret to lightning?! Any buyers? We’ll start the bidding right away!"
A few disciples blinked in confusion, while others tried to stifle their laughter as they were used to this goofy Sect Master of theirs’ lame jokes.
Volten halted his sales pitch, a wide grin on his face. "I jest, of course! There’s no easy way to the top or the secret to the universal elements. The only thing it’d help you with is if you enjoy running to the privy at lightning speed," he added with a wink, causing a ripple of laughter to break the tension among the gathered disciples.
"Now that I’ve got you all awake, let’s get to the real lesson."
The lecture commenced, and Lassim watched with whiplash from the erratic behavior and completely different persona he’d just witnessed the Sect Master show to everyone. It was so different and ridiculous compared to the angry old man he’d met so far that looked down on him.
He wondered what was going on, but chose to brush it off for now as he still needed to get his assistance for entering the trial ground.
Lassim intently followed Volten’s movements as he swayed about with unparalleled grace and precision, his body a blur of motion as he demonstrated various steps of different movement techniques. He started off simple, each movement accompanied by arcs of lightning, illustrating the symbiotic relationship between the practitioner and the elemental energy.
He explained the proper way to arch your feet to maximize movement and how to use the toes for extra grip, even within a part of boots, that could allow faster speeds.
Volten explained that his movements were inspired by the Lightning Serpent, his own elemental companion, which turned into a technique that mimicked the unpredictable and fluid motion of a serpent in a storm.
His figure was incredibly elusive to even Lassim’s eyes, but it appeared the Sect Master was making a considerable effort in slowing his movements down so that at least some of the disciples could witness it and use it for inspiration.
His body swayed and darted with an eerie grace, making it difficult to predict his next move. The technique was mesmerizing and Lassim saw the potential lethality it could provide, a perfect blend of skill and speed. He really wished to have such a technique, but at the same time he felt that it didn’t quite suit him as well as it suited the Sect Master.
Something about its innate quality, possibly just the singular element with serpent characteristics, seemed to not mesh well in his mind.
Thankfully, the information helped him realize two separate things for his own [Tempest Steps] that could be greatly improved upon. The first was that there were aspects, especially with how to control the muscles of the feet and toes, that could improve his speed tremendously.
The second was that his current use of [Tempest Steps] really favored the lightning element disproportionately over the water element. Lassim felt like he would work on these two things as one of his next goals.
Despite the awe-inspiring display, Lassim’s mind remained focused on his goal.
As the lecture progressed, he edged closer to the front, hoping for an opportunity to speak with the Sect Master.