Chapter 228: Aether Overload

Lucius, Kiana, and Arius got down from the carriage and looked around. The area was empty and not a single person could be seen there. This was perfect for them since they were about to do something that they didn't really want many other people to witness anyway.

Arius's hands were still in the same form as before and they were enlarged.

"How do they feel now? Can you do anything?" Lucius questioned.

Arius shook his head, "no… still no control. While I can still control the usual functions of my hands, I can't seem to deactivate my gift." 

Lucius furrowed his brows as he looked at Kiana.

"Was it like this for you too?" Lucius asked.

"While I did feel it to be a bit difficult to control at first, it wasn't like I couldn't control the activation of the gift." Kiana replied.

"Hmm… seems like your gift being an enhancement type might be something to do with it. Though… it might also be something to do with your Aether." Lucius spoke.

"My Aether?" Arius asked.

"Yes… I think your body has absorbed far more Aether than it can handle at this moment and thus it is trying to get rid of it." Lucius spoke.

This wouldn't be something too off from what Lucius had learned in his past life as well. There were actually similarities between Mana and Aether here, as Lucius had used a lot of Aether crystal in making the upgrade solution for Arius. 

'That might be one of the reasons. Even if he has an epic ranked gift, it's not like his body can still handle that much Aether right away. In the case of Kiana, her Aether was already of a higher quantity due to her gift despite being in the rare rank.

But for him who uses his gift often and it being of an Enhancement type, it has a lower consumption.' Lucius analyzed.

This reminded him of one of the most common conditions in his past life. It could even be said to be an illness that usually affected mages or any person that practiced magic of any kind.

It had a very simple name, 'Mana Overload', and meant exactly what its name meant; having an excess amount of mana in one's body.

"You may be having an Aether Overload," Lucius said, giving a name to the state now.

He doubted anyone else had ever experienced a condition like thee in this world since the conditions for it to happen were close to impossible. For Arius, this was due to the Aether he got from the 50 Aether Crystal.

To a normal Rare ranked gifted, just one Aether crystal was enough to fill their Aether capacity to the fullest. And if they tried to absorb more, their body would simply not allow that to happen.

In case of Arius, Lucius reckoned most of the Aether from the Aether crystal should have been used up during the process of the upgrading of the gift, but even then perhaps there was still at least 10 Aether crystal worth of Aether left back that his body absorbed in its entirety.

Lucius could estimate this due to the mark of obedience and was sensing the waves of Aether interacting with Hell energy. Since both types of energies were a bit antagonistic toward each other, Lucius could use this as a sensory function.

"What do I do now?" Arius asked.

"The solution is simple, you simply use up all that excess Aether." Lucius answered.

"Take this opportunity to learn more about your gift if you don't already know it and gain a better understanding." Lucius continued.

Hearing Lucius's words, Arius seemed convinced and also thought that Lucius's assumption seem to be rather accurate. Now that he felt his body, it felt a bit bloated to him, as if he had eaten too much.

~huu~

Arius took a deep breath and looked at his large arms.

"Let's see what my new gift can do…" Arius said before raising his hands.

~woosh~

His right fist soared and hit the air in front, making a clear swooshing sound. 

~whoosh~

His left fist did the same, and after that Arius just kept on punching the air non stop. He moved along with it and reached a large boulder that was half embedded in the ground. Since this was a hill, there were plenty of natural boulders lying around.

Previously in the tavern, Arius had already seen the toughness of his arms and knew that these boulders might just be the perfect punching bag.

~BANG~

His right fist slammed into the boulder and impacted it, creating a spiderweb like crack on its surface.

~BAM~

His left fist hit the same way as the right fist was cocked back again. 

~BOOM~BOOM~BOOM~

One after the other, Arius kept on punching the boulder as his attacks only kept on getting faster. Lucius could tell that the effect of his old gift was still here and his attacks would get faster and faster the more he used it.

"Wonder how fast they can go when he is under an Aether Overload. Theoretically, he should have been restricted due to his Aether capacity but now he has over ten times that much, which means the gift should easily exceed it." Lucius muttered to himself.

Lucius and Kiana watched on as Arius's Grey fists were now just blurred. Even Arius himself could not see them and he was perceiving it all due to his body.

The boulder was now reduced to half of its thickness due to Arius's punches and they were still getting faster.

~BOOM~

Then it finally happened. One of Arius's attacks reached a speed that was far too much for the Boulder and it split apart before exploding into the chunks that were all shot backwards.

~SCATTER~

The chunks of the boulder flew away in the opposite direction, otherwise Lucius and Kiana might have been affected along with Arius himself.

But this was just the beginning as in the next second, Arius shot forward.