Drarith flourished with the searing months of growth. With the drenched months of interlude, it heaved a breath of respite. The city grew dreary with the barren months of death and the frigid months of silence. And with the invigorating months of life, Drarith came back alive.
Flamecrest, Watercrown, Barrentide, Frosthelm, and Greenbirth; the seasons cycled as the year went by—the weather pursued its rhythm, heedless of the lives continuing beneath. Finally, with the dawn breaking the gray sky, Ewan bade farewell to the last resting day of his mystic-element bath. Today marked the completion of this subtype for Step-0, he at last gained the title of an Elementalist.
Butterflies fluttered in his stomach and excitement bubbled over, he could hardly contain himself anymore. The deep expenditure of resources, time, and energy for the subtype had propelled his expectations up high. So, with Toast and Kidd as his audience, and Frost, Orange, and Iris sitting in their runes, he began his tests for the Elementalist state.
The spell circuit in his modified heart and body glimmered and linked the runes, with the ice rune as the mainstay, and the engine booted on. A stimulating force surged within him, filling every corner of his body and soul, and with a snap, it exploded out. His strengthened Ryvia lifted him off the ground. It crushed the patch of grass beneath. The threads of spirit and the storming Ice-Anima lingered around him, and he hovered above the lawn, scanning his condition.
The Elementalist subtype was an extension of the Severynth system, it wasn’t its own path. Thus, the advantages it induced were all about amplification. Moreover, it wasn’t without limitations either. Ewan checked them all one by one and noted them down in his diary under the ‘Elementalist—Details’ heading.
“Advantages:
First advantage: Increased Anima pool. For each elemental rune connected to the state, my Anima pool combines with my corresponding Astylind’s Anima pool. The increase follows no pattern, and the final result is dependent on my Astylind’s Anima capacity.
Second advantage: Increased Anima recovery rate. A follow-up of the first advantage—because of the combined Anima pool, our Anima recovery rate also stacks up. It is and will be twice the baseline for each element.
Third advantage: Increased spell prowess—exact increment unknown. Only tested a list of non-destructive spells though, further testing needed for the offensive and defensive spells.
Fourth advantage: Increased casting speed—confirmed after several rounds. The reason could be the smooth and facilitated movement of Anima in the body, but more tests needed for confirmation. Regardless of the cause, the extent of the result is noteworthy.
Fifth advantage: Strengthened Ryvia. The boost to my spirit interference was enough to lift me off the ground and maintain the status of pseudo-flight—it’s fun, but I would still like to fly freely one day.
Sixth advantage: Amplified affinity for the mainstay element. My current choice was the ice element, and the Elementalist state shot my ice affinity from the basic Recipient level to the Favored level—can be a substantial advantage at higher affinity levels if the increment is exponential, but it’s highly unlikely.”
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“Limitations:
First limitation: Can only have one Astylind per element. This limits my future choice for the Astylinds and will continue to narrow my selection pool the higher I go. Unless I let go of the Elementalist title, I can't break the limitation.
Second limitation: The stage of the participating Astylind must be the same as my Elementalist level. If any of my Astylinds break through to the next level and reach the Step-1 stage, that corresponding rune won't connect to the Step-0 Elementalist spell circuit—it will collapse under the burden if forced. Applicable only under special conditions, however—in case I break through to Step-1, and my Astylinds advance, yet my Elementalist level remains at Step-0.
Third limitation: The ceiling of the spell level depends on the Elementalist level. As a Step-0 Elementalist, even if I am to become a Step-1 Severynth, I can only cast Step-0 spells in the state—the modifications of Step-0 Elementalist can't tolerate the quality change that the spells go through with each rising step.
Fourth limitation: Time constraint. The Anima from the mainstay element fuels the Elementalist state—hence the label ‘mainstay’. For my ice affinity under the amplification effect, the recorded time limit was about thirteen minutes—subject to change, depending on the recovery rate relative to the affinity level.”
When he shut the diary, and when his adrenaline went down, Ewan stopped to think about the subtype. The advantages did make the Elementalist a stronger version of Severynth, but what actually backed it was the number of runes he had and the list of spells he could cast. If these two factors failed him, his Elementalist state wouldn’t be much different from a normal Severynth, the magnitude of strength escalation wouldn’t justify the resources burnt in that scenario.
As he was now, with three runes and a few spells mastered in each of those three elements, being an Elementalist was barely his ace in the hole. To make the subtype dazzle in all its glory, he needed more runes, he needed more spells. From defensive to auxiliary, from area-of-effect to single target, from crowd control to movement, he had to build a sturdy arsenal of spells to capitalize on the Elementalist state.
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Status: Healthy
Step-0 Severynth [9th Awakening]
Subtype: Step-0 Elementalist
Name: Ewan Ayres
Species: Human
Vitality: 2.0
Spirit: 19.9
Anima: [Fire – 19.9 | Ice – 19.9 | Blood – 19.9]
Astylinds: 4 [Potential: 0]
Rolling Cat [Toast]: Step-0 [9th Awakening]
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Fire Monkey [Orange]: Step-0 [Level-9] [Grade-B]
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Imp [Frost]: Step-0 [Level-9] [Grade-B]
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Blood Lotus [Iris]: Step-0 [Level-9] [Grade-S]
Equipment: Common Clothes; Yurn [Neck Gaiter]; Moonkeeper [Crystal-Ball].
Storage: Journal; Elementalist—The Path of Anima [Subtype-Book]; Spellbook; Bloodlust [Spell]; Transmute [Spell]; Anima-Crystals [Novas Coins]; Obsidian Dagger; Hub-Connector; Ingredients.
Novas: 173,412
Crelith: 1,365