Chapter 75 Anything To Satiate The Fire That Burned Me From Within.

The rain poured down in gallons, creating rivers out of the slope of hills and rocks, while at the same time flooding any craters and creating small lakes in the process.

On top of one of the cliffs, one could see a human standing by a cave while soaked in the rainwater. However, while this usually would have irritated anyone due to the amount of water that was pouring down on them, it did not irritate the human that simply stood there motionless as if challenging the skies to a battle of endurance.

However, after a few seconds of him simply standing there, a powerful fist was thrust forward, exploding out with wind pressure and causing the rain drops around him to freeze for a split second before resuming their fall.

It was as if a layer of ethereal armor had been formed around him for a moment, making all the raindrops freeze in place for that one moment since they could not directly fall onto his skin, but that simply was not the case.

The human, of course, was me.

"You've been doing the same thing for hours. Come inside already!" Blanca shouted from within the cave yet I did not react to her words.

Instead, I carried on punching and punching, every single one of my punches becoming faster and more efficient than my last even if the change was too minute for even my blood eyes to distinguish.

I was currently in a trance. Everything seemed to have become black while the only thing I could see, feel or  touch had become the ground right below me and rain that soaked me from head to toe

The sound of the running rivers and the rain hitting the ground seemingly blended into the background as the only thing I heard from then on had become the muffled explosions of air pressure whenever I punched the air in front of me.

I could almost feel the water separate in front of me, yet even then I chose to not pay it any attention since I had focused almost everything on my positioning, footwork, and power.

"Being in the rain for so long isn't good for you. You never know, you might get hypothermia." Blanca shouted, yet her shout blended into a chuckle since even she could not take her own words seriously due to the absurdity of how they sounded.

It was a well-known fact that in this world, only creatures that had not embarked on the path of "Cultivation" would become sick, and in her eyes, I had passed the "embarkment" stage a long long time ago.

After another few hours of this grueling tiresome task, I was finally kicked out of my trance by a wave of fatigue that almost made me collapse to my feet the moment I felt it.

'Damnit... I might have gone too far this time.' Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself off my feet and walked into the cavern with a tired and pained expression.

"I told you to stop but you didn't listen." Blanca harrumphed, but after a few seconds, she began to analyze me in worry before finally letting out a sigh of relief which was followed by a stern gaze, not a few seconds after.

"You were too reckless." She spoke, this time her voice filled with scolding and anger as she stood up and away from the fire before walking towards me.

I could see her stern expression and could not help but shudder to remember all the other times I had made her angry, yet instead of scolding me for endless minutes, she simply sat next to me and took a look at my feet.

Before I could react, my feet were already within her grasp and she was analyzing them carefully, making sure to not miss a single detail, her eyes scanning over them like a detective trying to find a clue.

"Look at this. You have calluses all over your feet! When are you going to stop! You asked me to teach you about runes and affinities, yet now you are just doing physical activities and ignoring me all the time. What is the point of me being around if you aren't willing to use me." She scolded me with a stern expression, but unlike every other day for the last 3 weeks, she had stopped there.

After having met up with Blanca for the first time since I had left the dungeon, I had strolled my way toward all the corpses and had absorbed their soul cores one by one.

After doing so, I quickly moved towards the gorilla and did the same thing, yet just like I had expected, I got nothing in return as if the system was trying to scold me for not having killed all those creatures myself.

After having done so, we both returned to the cave where we would spend the rest of the day doing nothing in particular. Seeing this, I took out both the book of affinities and the book of runes to quickly read over them, yet before I knew it, I had already read over the entire book.

Of course, like most people, I couldn't understand everything that I had read but I could confidently say that I at least knew what 50% of the book was trying to say, making me more confident when it came to the runic experience as well as the core principles of the basic elements that I had come across so far.

However, after having read the book of affinities and the book of runes, I quickly moved on to Gaia's book, a guide to earth. While at first, I was confident in taking on this book without prior knowledge, the first page of the book had left me completely stupified, yet even after not understanding 90% of the things said on the first page, there was still a 10% that I did understand.

"The earth affinity is a complex one. Other affinities have different aspects to them, an example being the mixture of oxygen, heat, and fuel to create fire. Low temperature and concentration of water vapor in a single area would lead to the creation of liquid water." I read out loud before skipping a few texts since it simply told me how every element worked, something I did not need for the time being.

However, after the explanation of how the earth element worked, there was one line that stuck with me for the last 3 weeks, and it was-

"I do not recommend learning how to manipulate earth before having already learned how to control your body to the extent you would need. While the earth element needs a certain level of comprehension, it can take a toll on both the mind and body while also being very exorbitant in the use of its mana. Learn how to fight with your body before learning how to fight with your elements."

And so I did exactly that.

For the next three weeks, I would go on to train my ass off, yet even then I was more certain that I wouldn't suddenly get mastery in the use of my body overnight. However, rather than choosing the easy path of complacency, I had instead chosen to do everything I could to become stronger, faster, and more efficient than I once was.

After thinking back at all the days that I had spent trying to become stronger, I finally left my trance and looked Blanca in the eyes for the first time in what seemed like weeks.

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Another reason why I had begun to train so much had been to avoid talking to Blanca and telling her any secrets. I was sure that the moment I sat down with her and began to talk she would find a way to excrete secrets from me, yet all I had seen for the past three weeks had been a genuine concern as she took care of me every single day.

After looking into her eyes for a bit longer, I could see a slight blush creeping up her cheeks, a reaction that instantly made me smile with eyes that shone like stars.

After a few seconds, an awkward atmosphere began to build between us yet I did not stop smiling, to the point where even I didn't understand the reason why.

'This reminds me of something... A really good memory that I kind of doesn't want to think of.' I thought to myself with a sigh.

"Hey, Ezra." I heard a voice call out to me, making me look up and once again peer into the yellow eyes of the woman in front of me.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" She asked, yet instead of me spitting out non-existent coffee or blushing similar to some of the animes I used to watch, I could only feel a surge of emotions overcome my heart as if there was a dam that had broken. A dam that repressed all those emotions deep within my heart.

I looked at Blanca once again, yet instead of wearing the teasing pure-hearted smile from earlier, this smile was filled with millions of emotions I could not describe. Yet, even within these millions of emotions, there was one emotion that stood stronger and more prominent than the others.

"Yes... Yes, I do..." I replied before looking away from her and landing my gaze on the ceiling.

"Well, at least I did..." I said again, causing Blanca to narrow her eyes but still stay silent as if waiting for something else to come after those words, yet nothing came.

My heart was in turmoil as I once again remembered everything. It felt like a vivid dream, yet I knew it was real. Every single thing that happened. Every single thing that had ever been taken away from me. But even with eyes that were filled with gloom and sorrow, I did not allow a single tear to leave my eyes.

Call it what you want, but I would not allow myself to fall back and wallow in self-pity. I would not allow myself to shed another tear until the day those elves knew my rage...

Even if I was forced to burn this very planet to the ground, I would do it...

Anything to satiate the fire that burned me from within.

[Extra long chapter. Might feel a little stretched but I Just wanted to portray the mc's emotions]