The silence between them lingered as they walked back toward the village.
Lassim couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that something important had slipped just beyond his grasp during the practice session with Vaela.
The failure gnawed at him, but it wasn’t just frustration. There was something else about the way his elements behaved, something chaotic that might hold the key to unlocking his own technique. But what was it?
Vaela’s voice broke through his thoughts. "Don’t dwell on it too much, Lassim. You’ve got plenty of time to figure it out."
Lassim nodded absently.
Vaela said with a grin, "Besides, I’ll see you at the Elder Summit in a year or so, whenever it might be. Depending on how things are back at headquarters, I wouldn’t be surprised if they delayed it for a while.
By then, you’ll have probably figured out a whole technique or you can at least show me what progress with the weapon mimicry portion of [Raindown Lances] you’ve made by then. If you’ve got it down, I can show you how the rest of it works." She smirked.
Lassim smiled, though he couldn’t entirely shake the feeling of incompleteness. "Thanks for the help. And for the advice."
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Vaela waved her hand dismissively, her expression softening. "You did most of the hard work today, I’m sure. Maybe with a few days to dwell on it you’ll improve. You’ll get there."
As they reached the village, Vaela shot him a sideways glance. "You know, I was thinking… How about one last meal before you go? We could eat at my place. Nice and quiet," she added with a wicked grin and a wink, "I promise."
Lassim’s face flushed red at the thought, his imagination getting the better of him for a moment as he remembered the rather… casual way Vaela lived with her mistresses. "Uh… I think I’ll pass on that." He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to look anywhere but at her.
Vaela burst out laughing, clearly enjoying his discomfort. "You’re too easy. Fine, fine. Suit yourself. But don’t say I didn’t offer a nice view and a home cooked meal. Some men just really can’t appreciate the finer things in life." Then let out a dramatic and over the top sigh that even the best bards would compliment.
Lassim quickly rotated his cultivation and activated [Tempest Steps], hastily lifting into the air. "Yeah, another time! I’ll take a rain check," he called down as he sped away, eager to avoid further teasing.
Vaela’s laughter echoed faintly behind him as he soared into the night sky.
As soon as he was a safe distance from Sandspire Village, Lassim slowed his flight and allowed himself to relax. The night air cooled his red flushed face, and he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. Vaela’s horniness and lack of shame was definitely different than he was used to, though in all honesty… he was kind of into it.
This only led his thoughts to spur further as he imagined a blunt and more forward Lustria.
After a few minutes of steady flying and one or two splashes of water against his face to refocus, he reached into his pouch and pulled out the remaining mission sheets.
Only two left. He barely glanced at the one on the bottom, instead focusing instead on the top mission: Clearwater Isle.
The report was simple but semi-urgent.
Mission: Travel to the Southernmost island off the coast, Clearwater Isle, and aid Elder Karvus in determining the cause of the unstable solar flares and day elemental disturbances. The Elder initially suspects they are caused by remnants of the Sun Sect’s devices that they’ve found within the former Sun Sect’s territory, now claimed as part of the Lightning Sect’s.
The issue poses a significant threat to the island and nearby regions if not handled quickly.
Lassim furrowed his brow as he read through the details again. Solar flares weren’t something to be taken lightly, especially not when they involved Sun Sect technology. If those devices were as dangerous as the report suggested, it could mean widespread damage to the island and beyond.
Tucking the sheets back into his magic pouch, he pulled out his notebook and flipped to the next blank spot after the other notes he had left previously. He quickly jotted down his toughts on his recent practice with Vaela’s technique:
Notes on Vaela’s [Raindown Lances] battle art:
Technique relies heavily on precise control of internal weapon structure. My attempts to blend lightning and water mana not syncing. Chaotic and overall unstable results. Something is missing to make it work, but what?
Lassim tapped his pen against the paper, deep in thought. He wasn’t sure how yet, but there had to be something to the unstable mix of his elements. Maybe instead of forcing the lightning and water to work together smoothly, he needed to figure out how to harness the natural volatility of lightning and stability or flexibility of water between them.
Satisfied with his notes, he tucked the notebook away as well and took a deep breath. The air was growing cooler as he flew further south, and the stars above him twinkled like distant beacons. Even with a full speed activation of [Tempest Steps], which he currently was only going about half-speed to be able to write clearly, Clearwater Isle was still at least another day’s journey away.
As he thought about the situation and urgency of the request, Lassim went ahead and pushed himself to increase his speed, determined to reach the island by morning. The air shook and burned as his lightning bolt form took shape as he shot through the sky with [Tempest Steps].
~~~
By the time he passed the dunes of the western side of the desert that covered the majority of the northern regions of the Southern continent and reached the ocean of its southernmost border, the sun had long since begun to rise again, casting a soft golden light over the horizon.
Up ahead, he spotted the island. It was fairly small but densely also forested, its lush greenery stretching all the way to the pristine beaches that bordered it. Beyond the island, the ocean shimmered in the early morning light, the waves gently lapping against the shore.
But despite the idyllic setting, there was havoc in the center of it. Not only were there some fires that had somehow not spread to the rest of the thickly forested surroundings, but the air around the island was heavy with mana, thick and unstable.
Lassim could innately sense the disturbances in the spatial threads in the distance through his progenitor marks—sharp bursts of sun-biased mana flaring unpredictably, sending ripples through the atmosphere— even without activating [Spatial Vision].
"This must be the effect of the malfunctioning Sun Sect devices." He murmured to himself as he quickly approached.
Lassim descended toward the island, landing near the entrance to the Lightning Sect’s outpost. The outpost itself was also a stark contrast to the natural beauty of the island—a dark stone structure reinforced with lightning runes, similar to the Lightning Sect headquarter’s buildings, its tall watchtowers with unnecessary lightning rods overlooking the ocean.
Two disciples greeted him at the entrance, their faces tense. "Are you here for the mission?," one of them asked. "Elder Karvus has been expecting someone to arrive for a while now with no word. The situation’s gotten worse since we submitted it. The solar flares have been growing stronger, and we’ve had trouble stabilizing the mana flow.
We can barely keep the fires from spreading with the resources we have, so please, let’s make haste to the Elder right away."
Lassim nodded, following them into the outpost.
As he made his way deeper into the compound, he could feel the pressure of the surrounding mana growing stronger, the chaotic surges of sunlight energy brushing against his senses as everything in the surroundings seemed bright and even the rocks on the ground felt charged with sunlight. He had to squint his eyes and rely mostly on his spirit sense to follow them forward.
Thankfully he was quickly escorted indoors where he found Elder Karvus in the main building after a few twists and turns within the compound. Here, he was standing over a large table covered in diagrams that looked like schematics and blueprints.
The elder was a lanky, yet broad-shouldered man with graying hair that seemed like he had just taken an explosion to the face with how it was dynamically frozen stiff and shooting backwards.. His eyes were sharp, but there was a crazy glint in there as well as if he was a little bit mad.
"Those robes… So, you must be Volten’s personal disciple that was sent," Karvus said, "I’m glad you could finally arrive, taking your sweet time to get here, but we’re most likely going to not have an island within just a few more hours with how things have been going. Real glad you could join us, your holiness." He said with a scoff as he spat on the ground.
Lassim stepped closer, "I’m sorry, but I read the report on the solar flares and while urgent it didn’t seem like an immediate priority. I’ve just finished handling several ridiculous other situations before you, so sorry but even the Mission Hall didn’t put your situation high in my stack of places I had to go to. If you have a problem with anyone, I don’t know why it’s me you’re going after.
If you want my help, then tell me, what’s the situation?"
Karvus grunted, pulling a map out from underneath the schematics and blueprints, pointing to several marked locations. "The Sun Sect devices that are causing the issues are buried deep in the old resource buildings they used for training here. We’re the closest to the sun here, so there’s loads of them and they’re all malfunctioning, drawing in too much sunlight mana and releasing it in flares.
It’s destabilizing everything and soon the entire island may just burst into a giant inferno itself…"
He tapped one of the locations with his finger. "We’ve managed to contain some of the smaller machines causing the flares and fires, but the larger devices are too unstable to shut down. I’m great with blowing things up, but I’m worried for my own life if I give an attempt at those machines without understanding them.
I’m fairly certain I can overload them if I can focus properly, but I’ll need someone’s help to stabilize the mana or protect me while I work on dismantling them."
Lassim frowned, studying the numerous spots on the map. "What do you mean by ’dismantle’?"
Karvus gave him a grim smile. "You didn’t read up on me at all before coming here? Kid, I’m known as "The Bombardier". That’s an official title within the sect if you think I’m lying. I can use a technique to convert any object into an explosive, including these Sun Sect devices. The biggest problem is, the solar flares make it difficult to get close without triggering a chain reaction.
That’s where you come in. I assume, since they sent you, that you’ve got some shared defensive techniques, yeah? You’ll help contain the mana and protect me while I prepare the devices for detonation."
Before they could continue discussing the plan, a sudden surge of energy ripped through the air, sending a shockwave that rattled the walls of the outpost. Lassim felt the heat of the solar flare pulsing from deep within the island.
Karvus cursed under his breath, "Damn it. That was the third flare this morning. We need to move now, or the whole place is going to go up in flames."