Chapter 18

  Late one night, after another grueling day of training, Eli sat at the table, listening to Alira and Dainen go back and forth—again.

  This time, the debate was about what he should awaken next.

  Both were passionate. Both were relentless. And honestly? Whichever one spoke last was the one he tended to lean toward.

  They had a way of presenting their arguments so convincingly, so thoroughly, that it felt like the only correct answer. No room for doubt.

  Eli was beginning to understand how Alira could make entire regions back down—she didn’t just argue; she dismantled. She twisted logic until the opposing side had no choice but to agree.

  And Dainen? He was just as good.

  So good, in fact, that Eli was starting to suspect they had some hidden ability neither of them had ever mentioned. Something that made them right all the time.

  Because right now, it sure felt that way.

  "Serious question." Eli leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "Do you two have some kind of ability that makes people believe you’re always right? Because, honestly, this might be the deadliest skill I’ve seen since I got here."

  Next to him, Teran nodded solemnly. "I never thought I’d enjoy watching someone beat my dad in an argument this much. But this? This might be the best thing I’ve witnessed since the birth of my children."

  He paused. "Well… one of my children."

  Mirelle smacked him in the back of the head.

  "Oww!" Teran clutched his head, leaning forward dramatically. "I might have brain damage now."

  Without missing a beat, Dainen deadpanned, "You have brain damage because I dropped you when you were a baby."

  Teran gasped, pressing a hand to his chest. "You wound me, Father."

  Alira sighed.

  For what had to be the hundredth time, Eli had derailed the conversation—again—only to sit back and watch the chaos unfold like an innocent bystander.

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. "So, it’s decided—Eli will choose Elemental next, and we’ll begin preparations for the quest."

  Without waiting for agreement, she stood, acting as though they had all come to that conclusion.

  Dainen shot up from his seat. "Wait, what? That is not—"

  Mirelle yanked him back down, whispering sharply. "Shh! You’ll wake the kids!"

  Dainen grumbled under his breath, crossing his arms.

  Eli, meanwhile, sat up with a lazy grin. "As much as I love this round-table brainstorming, I need to meditate for a while—sync up today’s training. I’m close to leveling up a few abilities."

  He stretched, then added casually, "Also, I’m picking Energy as my next affinity."

  Silence.

  Then, Alira’s eyes narrowed.

  "Eli—"

  "I know you have doubts," he cut in, holding up a hand. "But I think Dainen’s right—Energy works better with my base. And let’s be honest, you brought me here. You shouldn’t be too surprised that his training led me to this choice."

  Alira exhaled sharply, shaking her head.

  Eli leaned back again, smug.

  Mayhem: achieved.

  Dainen smirked—briefly.

  The moment Alira’s glare landed on him, he wiped it away.

  "Fine," she said. "I figured this was where we were heading anyway. And yes, I did bring you here to train. So, if you never get any smarter, just a better fighter… that’s on me."

  She turned to Eli, who simply shrugged. "Valid argument."

  Alira exhaled, crossing her arms. "That being said, I already spoke to Dainen about this, but I need to travel to Caelshold to visit the Temple of Celestial Echoes."

  She hesitated. Then, with an apologetic glance at Eli, added, "And I need to go alone."

  Eli shot up from his chair. "Why?"

  Alira didn’t answer right away. Instead, she looked at Dainen.

  Dainen met Eli’s gaze and stood. "Because you still need to train. If you want to be ready for this quest, you need to push harder than ever before. And even then…" He folded his arms. "I’m not sure you will be ready."

  "Plus, Eli, I’ll be much faster on my own," Alira said.

  "I’ll avoid cities and head straight there. The less time I spend in public, the less likely someone will see me—someone who might start asking questions."

  "You’re going to draw more attention by running there," Teran pointed out, still absently rubbing the back of his head. "I’ve seen Dad run. Kind of hard to miss."

  Alira just smiled. "I’ve picked up a few tricks."

  Dainen narrowed his eyes. "Such as?"

  Alira tapped her fingers against the table. "I can suppress my presence now. No mana signature, no traces. Unless someone’s actively searching, I’ll be invisible to their senses."

  She leaned back casually. "Oh, and I can fly. Short distances."

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Silence.

  Eli’s eyes went wide. "I’m sorry, what?"

  "It’s mana-intensive," Alira admitted. "But Caelum’s land fuels me. As long as I touch the ground every so often, I recharge almost instantly."

  Dainen exhaled, shaking his head. "You never cease to surprise me, Ally."

  "You better teach me to fly," Eli muttered through gritted teeth, then stomped his foot for emphasis.

  Alira smirked as she slung her satchel over her shoulder. "I leave at dawn."

  Eli nodded, but an uneasy feeling settled in his chest.

  She had been with him from the moment he arrived in Caelum. He wasn’t sure he was ready to face training without her watching his back.

  The next morning, as Eli stretched and settled into meditation, he heard footsteps approaching.

  Alira.

  She crouched beside him. "Listen, Eli. I know you’ve been pushing yourself nonstop—training, leveling up your abilities. But the next step…" She hesitated, then met his gaze. "It’s going to be unlike anything you’ve experienced."

  Eli swallowed but nodded.

  "So train harder than you ever have," she continued. "Because when I get back, we will be ready to find The Nexus Star."

  With that, Alira turned and slung her satchel across her body, the strap settling over her left shoulder and resting at her hip.

  Eli hesitated, stood up and just hugged her.

  "Be quick. And try not to draw attention to yourself. You were outside for, like, three minutes in Brightvale, and we got kidnapped."

  Alira huffed a quiet laugh and hugged him back.

  She was getting used to this—hugs. Between Eli, Dainen, and Dainen’s grandkids, there had been a lot more of them lately.

  "I recall that situation happening a bit differently," she murmured.

  Eli pulled back, frowning. "Well, you are old, so forgetting things is expected. Guess I’ll have to keep everything straight for you." He tapped his temple smugly.

  Alira rolled her eyes and turned away. "Good luck."

  Eli went back to meditating. "You too," he whispered.

  She heard him.

  And she smiled.

  Then, with a deep breath, she let mana flow through her—and took off.

  For Alira, it wasn’t running so much as moving with the mana, gliding through its currents. The world blurred around her, shifting from dense trees to open fields to rolling hills in mere moments.

  As she traveled, her thoughts drifted.

  The past four months had been… unexpected.

  She had always known she’d end up at the center of whatever was coming. But she had imagined herself as a wise old woman, watching from the sidelines, offering cryptic advice to heroes too stubborn to listen.

  Not this.

  Not a mentor to a boy destined to change a world he wasn’t even part of.

  She had met many people. Many creatures. Even Celestials.

  But she had never met anyone like Eli.

  He seemed to bleed calmness, even when she knew he was scared. Nervous. Unsure.

  And yet, he kept moving forward.

  But like Dainen had said back when they first arrived at his homestead—Eli used his fear as fuel.

  He was driven like no one she had ever met.

  Well… almost no one.

  Dainen had that same relentless drive, but the two of them couldn’t have been more different.

  Dainen was a creature of pain and anger, forced to channel it into something greater.

  Eli, on the other hand, was a creature of nurture and love—and that drive came naturally.

  Every few hours, Alira extended herself into the sky, gliding effortlessly through the wind currents. She had to admit… flying was incredible.

  It had been a long time since she’d allowed herself to marvel at the little things.

  But seeing the world through Eli’s eyes?

  It was hard not to.

  His aura had a way of seeping into her, making her notice details she had long since stopped appreciating.

  She flew. Landed. Let the mana of the land flow through her.

  Over and over, she repeated this cycle.

  Until she felt it.

  Wrong.

  A sensation she had felt before—but this time, it was raw. Unhinged.

  Alira stilled.

  She let her senses extend, flowing through the land—searching, isolating—until she found it.

  She felt it—just to the west. Alira took off, cresting a ridge—and there it was.

  A storm of wild mana raged before her.

  To the untrained eye, it might have seemed like nothing more than an unusually strong gust of wind. But to Alira?

  It was chaos incarnate.

  The ground pulsed beneath her feet. The sky twisted, the mana currents tangled and unstable, thrashing against one another like warring tides.

  She reached into her satchel, pulling out a small instrument designed to measure mana intensity.

  The readings fluctuated wildly. Like two powerful forces fighting for control.

  Her mind flickered, unbidden, to two other beings currently bound to each other.

  She pushed the thought aside. Later.

  "This explains the high-tier monsters manifesting so quickly," she murmured.

  She pulled out her journal, quickly jotting down the readings and her observations before tucking it away.

  Then she knelt, pressing her fingers to the ground.

  And listened.

  She closed her eyes and let herself sink into the mana flow.

  Then—she saw it.

  Two affinities, tangled together. One bleeding into the land, trying to claim a place where it didn’t belong.

  Life and Spiritual.

  Mana from the Spiritual Affinity—something that shouldn’t be here—was leaking into the region, disrupting the natural balance.

  She followed the flow, tracing it back to its source, searching for a way to stem it. To stop it outright.

  Then, she felt it.

  The creatures trapped within the storm—warping. Changing.

  The first ones were beginning to manifest.

  Alira stayed within the flow a little longer, waiting, watching—until she sensed the largest one take form.

  The first few were Gold-Tier Manifestations.

  But the last one…

  It was different. Bigger. Stronger.

  It pulled at the mana around it, drawing in more and more, feeding its core.

  And the moment it solidified—fully manifested—the others noticed her.

  The Gold-Tier creatures turned, locking onto her presence.

  And then they charged.

  Alira snapped her eyes open.

  Shadow-wolf creatures surrounded her, their forms shifting between shadow and nature, blurring at the edges as they stalked closer.

  And behind them—

  A High Emerald-Tier beast loomed, its aura pressing down on the land like a storm about to break.

  They were nature-infused brutes, their bodies encased in thorned armor, glowing bioluminescent veins pulsing beneath their hides.

  The first one lunged.

  Alira blurred—vanishing from its path—then reappeared behind it.

  A single, precise strike to its core, timed perfectly as it flickered between shadow and beast.

  It collapsed instantly.

  The others shot forward.

  She moved like a blade through the storm—sharp, efficient, wasting no energy.

  Each strike was clean. Lethal.

  And within moments, they were gone.

  She exhaled, then turned to face the true threat.

  The Emerald-Tier Apex Predator loomed before her.

  A massive, multi-limbed creature, its form unstable, flickering in and out of existence. Chaotic energy coiled through its shifting body, a violent storm of clashing affinities.

  Alira narrowed her eyes and closed them briefly, extending her senses.

  Life. Spiritual.

  No surprise.

  But there—beneath the chaos—something else.

  Faint, but present.

  Elemental.

  It wasn’t fully integrated. It flickered, unstable—searching for purchase.

  Trying to bind itself to the creature.

  Alira opened her eyes.

  That’s new.

  She opened her eyes—just as the beast lunged.

  Alira moved.

  Or, to an outsider, vanished.

  She reappeared behind it, but before she could strike, the creature twisted unnaturally.

  Its tail became its face.

  With terrifying speed, its jaws snapped shut on empty air where she had just been.

  Alira was already gone, shifting just to its side.

  The creature let out a piercing screech—a sound so unnatural, so wrong, that she wondered how far it would carry.

  She steadied herself, watching the unstable flow of its flickering form. Then, with a breath, she shifted her healing mana—twisting it, consuming the flickering instability.

  The beast thrashed, biting at the invisible force constricting it.

  She had seen enough.

  It was time to put it out of its misery.

  Alira clenched her mana around it, suffocating the chaotic energy.

  As the creature flickered in and out of stability, she shot forward—her strike precise, absolute.

  Her hand crushed its mana core.

  The beast dissolved into dust, its remnants scattering into the air.

  And then—

  Silence.

  The storm vanished as abruptly as it had come.

  Alira scanned the clearing.

  Peaceful.

  Undisturbed.

  If someone arrived now, they’d have no idea that three Gold-Tier monsters—and an Emerald-Tier Apex Predator—had just tried to kill her.

  She didn’t even look tired.

  With a practiced motion, she pulled out her journal and scribbled down a note:

  — Third affinity… is that causing the super-manifestation to higher tiers?

  She underlined third several times, staring at the word before closing the journal with a quiet snap.

  Another glance around. Still nothing.

  Satisfied, she tucked the book away and started toward Caelshold, moving at an easy pace.

  She had plenty to think about.