Chapter 649 Ether Control

The first day passed without trouble, Eldrian finding that there were two ways that worked well for controlling rocks and sticks shaped like daggers with ether.

One was to completely surround the items. This used a lot more concentration and mana than the other, which was to hollow it out and fill the inside with ether.

Then, of course, there was the easier way if he abandoned control and focused just on attack. He could launch them simply by focusing the ether on one side. This could be useful, but it lacked finesse. 'However, if I throw a handful in the air and launched them with an ether bat... That could be effective.'

The next day, Eldrian returned to ANW far earlier. Spending just enough time on Earth to feed himself and secure the perimeter a bit more. However, he was keenly aware that his situation was not ideal. He needed to find a way to safeguard his body.

'Going to Elizabeth's is likely my best bet, but... It will mean returning to a populated area and bringing her into the crosshairs even more.'

Eldrian did not like this option.

'My other bet is to try and somehow steal a cabin. But how do I power it?' Eldrian understood that while mana was a free form of energy, it was not electricity. It might be possible to convert it, especially through lighting spells, runes, or arrays. But there was no guarantee and it might backfire if he failed to control the output.

'Getting a cabin is a big if though.' Shaking his head, Eldrian hoped that his body would survive the abuse. After a moment, he paused and talked with Two.

'I just need you to go back to eat and drink something. I'll prepare the food ahead of time so it shouldn't take more than ten minutes.'

After a bit of back and forth, Two agreed. After all, neither wanted to test what would happen if their real body degraded or was found by an animal or human while they were absent. Going back thrice a day would at least decrease the risk, though it would not be eliminated completely.

Luckily, the day-night of where Eldrian was in ANW and on Earth was still the opposite. Thus he could be awake and busy during the day. However, it took its toll. He could feel the strain of a lack of sleep, while it was not as severe as one would expect, it was still there.

'It would be ideal if I can get into the spotlight with a semi-solution and clear warnings. In that case, Miracle should back down and I might be able to live an ordinary life. That is if the other governments don't all target me then.'

Sadly, it was Eldrian's best bet, to try and appeal to the common person. There were no guarantees and this was certainly his biggest concern.

His timeline was still the next tournament in slightly over half a year. Yet, Eldrian was keenly aware that he was in the dark about the situation of Earth's governments. He wasn't even sure how far Miracle's network stretched.

'Which is why I need to make a demonstration that will cause people to stand for me. It must be so devastating and shocking that they fear it like they fear nukes. I need to have the people pressure their governments to ensure Earth does not get destroyed.'

Yet, in doing so he was aware that he might be classified as a monster. People might instead wish to have him killed to remove the threat that he might be, instead of listening to his words. 'I need to figure out how to make this at least not happen...'

His timeline was tight to achieve this, especially since he couldn't cause a catastrophe if he couldn't control it. That would be simple insanity. Yet, that was the only way he saw that could give him the standing to talk on the international stage.

As Eldrian was leaving the inn, Myropsis followed. Curious about what he was busy with, she watched in awe as he practiced. The sticks and stones danced through the air under his control. Eldrian even experimented from time to time with adding some elemental mana.

Suddenly turning a rock into an electric rod, a stick into a flaming - stick.

He also made sure to test his limits. He found that he could not lift more than 10kg at a time, at least this was his current limit. At the same time, his speed limit seemed to be around 100 meters per second (330ft/s) if focused on acceleration.

However, the above he could only achieve with the sticks and smaller rocks. With a large rock of around 10kg he could only achieve a speed of around 10 meters per second (33ft/s). Of course, Eldrian was not capable of accurate measures.

He could however roughly time his tests and work out the average. Sadly, even with this, the power of the attacks was lacking compared to spells.

Vrachos for example basically made the small rocks bullets, but they would more often than not shatter when he flung them with ether alone. Eldrian quickly learned that in the process of formation, spells enhanced the material it was using- if it used any.

Along with this, his control of spells also had a larger range limit than these ether-guided items. Making it appear obsolete, but Eldrian felt this would change if he actually designed weapons to be used like this.

These findings sadly informed him that he would be incapable of using ether offensively at the current point in time.

And not only with random items, he would also be incapable of using ether against someone directly.

He would be incapable of locking them in place, simply unable to produce enough force to accomplish such a task. At most he could hit them with an invisible attack. But Eldrian doubted that would do much against the undead. It might be useful in a pinch though, so he did not completely discard it.

Taking a break, Eldrian smiled and called out to Myropsis after seeing that she was watching form after. Asking if she had something she wanted to ask.

"I thought we should discuss the plan for tomorrow."

"I said three days, this is the second." Eldrian corrected, causing Myropsis to quickly nod. Confused why he would still be careful if he could do what she had just witnessed. This was far above controlling a spell. Or at least so she thought.

After all, it could be a sword, a spear, a dagger, a poisoned needle. It could even be a mana bomb that Eldrian controlled. The flight of the objects under his control was also fast, but Eldrian understood that it was not fast enough.

Ceph would be able to react to them, heck Eldrian felt he would be able to react to them even while still slightly weakened. He might be too slow to move out of the way in his current state, but he could track them without trouble, even at max speed.

He did not doubt for a second that the ghoul would be able to dodge them with ease. And if they connected they would do little to no damage. If he used an actual weapon instead of random sticks and stones the damage might be better, but Eldrian lacked weapons.

His inventory no longer carried random items, it was actually quite empty at the moment. Besides, even if he used normal weapons, they wouldn't do enough. It would have to be magic-grade weapons, which were not so easy to get.

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