Chapter 1010: Elemental Examinations

Chapter 1010: Elemental Examinations

“Alright, soldiers!” Dana shouted, standing before the ten creations of the Keeper. She wasn’t in one of the Olympus training rooms, but rather stood with them in a large field. “You all were given life by the boss, created to master a particular style of combat! You were given intelligence to train on your own and develop your own techniques in these styles. You were given the freedom to move around and act independently. Many aeons aren’t given such beneficial treatment!”

“Are we aeons?” The blue-haired woman among the group asked, tilting her head at the unfamiliar word. Dana turned, pointing sharply at her and causing her to flinch back.

“Yes! At your core, you are fundamentally aeons! Creatures that were summoned by another being for one purpose or another with the combination of mana and spiritual energy. However, you are also more than that. You are the creations of a special technique known as the Beasts of the End. Originally, there were meant to be twelve of you. However, aside from you ten, the Keeper only has one other, and the final one is still being planned.”

“Now, today I am going to go over basic combat styles that can apply to all aeons! These are techniques that I have learned over a very, very long life. I was reborn in an ancient elven city to an ailing father. When he was taken from me, I fought to get him back. I marched into the depths of hell, and I conquered it in order to find him again.”

Dana paused, closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath. “I never found him. By the time I knew that I was in the wrong place, he surely would have been reborn as a new soul. However, someone else found me. Tsuba, she took me in and gave me a home.”

Dana opened her eyes, a fierce light shining from within them. “This is my home now. If it’s your job to defend it, then you had better believe that I am not going to let you slack off. Unlike all of you, I wasn’t created with special powers. I was pieced together from the soul of a young girl who died of illness. Everything I have, I fought for, I earned.”

“I’ll be paying special attention to the two of you.” Dana said, pointing at the jester and the woman in an asian dress. “You were created with the express intention of mastering your arts, and I myself am an expert of the techniques you focus on.”

“But first... general combat skills. Every aeon with enough intelligence to act independently has the potential to borrow spiritual energy from the underworld. I have already gotten permission from the Keeper to take you all to hell. If you can’t handle it, you don’t deserve the powers you’ve been given.”

Dana lifted a hand, purposely slowing the process as a familiar spell diagram appeared above her, forming a black abyss in the sky, filled with rolling silver fog. “All of you, enter. It’s time to begin basic training. Unless I give you permission, you are not to use the styles you have been training until now.”

The ten aeons had serious expressions, at least those who had a visible face. One by one they flew up to enter the portal that Dana had created, Dana herself passing through moments later before closing the portal behind herself.

Aeons were not the same as avatars created by the Keeper, or copies made for the Virtual world. Even if he went to the Admin Room, so long as the aeons were given the ability to act independently, they would function thanks to his World Host. This was something that Dana had confirmed when she found out that Dale had hastily returned to the Admin Room previously, and found that they were still training, unaware that their creator had left. Now, she was going to take advantage of that fact.

“Let’s see... this spot should be good, right?” Aurivy asked, glancing back at Julia as they arrived at a rocky plateau, having moved to an uninhabited world.

Julia gave a wry smile, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s certainly not your usual choice of location for a date. If you’d tell me what we’re here for, I might have more confidence in answering you.”

Aurivy simply grinned, snapping her fingers as an orb of darkness rose from her shadow, hovering in the air. “It’s one of my research projects! I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but never really came up with an answer!”

Julia arched a brow, glancing at the orb. She could sense Aurivy using natural energy to control her shadow. A rather advanced technique for a druid, but not unheard of. “This is just a representation. This shadow orb represents the void. The void, as you know, is the source of everything, whether it is energy or creation.”

Aurivy’s own grin grew wider and wider. “An audience! Also, someone to bounce ideas off of. My first thought is to construct an elemental magic spell diagram completely out of natural energy.”

“Won’t work.” Julia said simply, holding up a hand to stop her. “Tons of people have tried that before. Hell, I’ve tried that before. If anything, the effect is a bit worse than normal elemental magic.”

Aurivy’s brow twitched, clearing her throat. “T-Then, the next idea. Scarlet used a lot of ki, so... why not try using a lot of mana?”

“And this is why I said we needed Ryone.” Julia said with an amused smile.

“Well, I’ve got this!” Aurivy waved her hand, depositing several large crates from her inventory. “I’ve been stocking up on Mage Heart crystals for about ten years, so it should be enough!”

Julia’s eyes widened, immediately retreating a few steps. “You’re not worried about causing a mana siphon?”

“Well... that’s part of why we needed an uninhabited world.” Aurivy said, somewhat sheepishly. “If a mana siphon is created here, it will only be based on the thoughts of the two of us. I even got a spell diagram that should be able to support all of the energy!”

“Wait.” Julia extended a hand to stop Aurivy again. “If you want to test it in this direction, you need a directionless spell, and then use natural energy to focus it. Otherwise, you’re just adding an elemental effect to a powerful spell.”

“Uh... well... that’s not wrong.” Aurivy chuckled sheepishly. “That was going to be my fifth test.”

“...How many tests do you have planned?”

Aurivy glanced from side to side, speaking slowly. “...Eighty-two?”

“Eighty...” Julia’s eyes went wide, almost stumbling back at that. “You have been saving this up for so long that you have eighty-two tests prepared, and the materials for all of them? Is your inventory filled with Mage Heart?”

“Only like ninety-five percent of it. I needed some room for other materials, too. Like I said, I’ve been saving up the crystals for about ten years.” Aurivy snickered, looking back at the crates.

“Okay... well, let’s just start off with this ‘fifth’ test, then.” Julia shook her head with a long sigh, massaging her forehead. “If that doesn’t work, we’ll just go from there, or find the next planet to test on. How many planets do you have prepared?”

“Ten!” Aurivy shouted in a confident tone. “I figure it can’t take less than eight or nine failed attempts to destroy a planet, right?”