Damien finally completed his “month” long cultivation with the Solar Fire Dao. He was at a bottleneck that could not go any further due to him not having a pure Solar Fire Dao. It couldn’t advance unless Damien had a perfect and seamless integration of it. There was no point for him to cultivate due to this. All he could do now is practice in its practical form. Kyro swooped in from his usual spot, when he saw Damien trying out something new.
“You can no longer go on? There is much to learn from a Dao. I doubt you have completed it in its entirety or you’d be a deity by now.”
Damien ignored the doubt Kyro had since he knew he was right. He was just trying something else to connect everything perfectly. There was a full blown tree inside of his Flame Core, vibrating intensely as he tried his abilities with it together. He created a spark in his hand and tried expanding it out to a dagger with the principles of the Solar Fire Dao. It was brighter than ever with a more piercing factor to its aura. Damien slowly formed it with care and diligence, but when it came to making it solid, it broke apart into light particles.
The tree inside his Core collapsed, only to rebuild itself back to form. He cursed under his breath trying to simulate what he did wrong.
‘The bridge between the two Daos is obviously quite numerous. They both have Fire in their name so it isn’t too hard to make them cooperate. But I don’t need cooperation, I need to make it one!’
Kyro spectated from the side, watching him go through trial and error like a madman. Minutes, hours, days, and then weeks passed by with no further advancement. It got to the point where Damien could no longer keep his mind sane. His frustration bubbled up with the magma following suit.
“You are looking at the similarities too much and not focusing on the differences. Take a break and clear your thoughts. You have a one track mind right now and it’s clearly not doing you any good.”
Damien wanted to explode out in anger for failing at it for so long. He bit his lips to placate his mood with blood trickling down from them. Kyro shook his head in disappointment when he saw that. He clicked his tongue to catch Damien’s attention.
“Why are you holding in your feelings? If you are upset and angry, then let it out. Remember what Dao you train and believe in. It is tied to our feelings and does no good holding it in. In fact it gives us more strength the more emotional we become. Let the emotions run clear while you control your actions decisively!”
Damien let his emotions run wild, yelling out in an almost screech like manner. His rampant Mana turned to white flames and danced around his body. The magma followed suit, acting as if it would erupt once more into space. After he let out all of his negative emotions, he was left with a clear mind. It gave him the chance to really think about Kyro’s words from earlier that fell on deaf ears.
“Find the differences? I thought I was supposed to make them connect with their similarities? Have you seen how close I’ve gotten? It doesn’t make sense.”
Kyro gave a quick chuckle as he was being challenged by his knowledge.
“Kid, you think you know more than me?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Damien was ready to retort to whatever Kyro had to say but that was something that stumped him immediately. It was an impossibility to know more than an ancient creature. He would just be embarrassing himself if he tried to. Instead of being a crabby teenager who didn’t even know he was going through puberty along with a growth spurt, Damien thought more deeply into his words.
‘Find the differences… the differences… the… wait! That’s why it won’t work! The differences are the key! No matter what I try to do it doesn’t matter if I’m only connecting them together partially.’
Damien’s eyes lit up once more with the same passion he had from the start. It was such a simple answer but it evaded Damien’s mind this entire time. Before he went into a crazy session of training, Kyro added his final bit of advice.
“You may think you are closer to the end than you think. The framework is being held due to the hold your Dao has over the Solar Fire Dao. You are lording over it more than allowing it to be once.”
His words struck deeply into Damien right before he started training. He only had a rudimentary combination of Daos, and he thought it was because they linked up. Now he was finding out he was just forcing the issue with sheer will. Damien was confident he would get it this time and let it all come together naturally.
Damien went right to work without another thought. During this time, Aya was doing her own thing while the rest of the world slowly forgot about him. In the first month he saw close to no success without trying to force it, however from the hundreds of failures with the correct mindset this time, it gave him a great boost. This was seen during the second half where he saw some clear success in his abilities. The melding of Daos was different for every person. Others would do it instantly, while some could never accomplish it in their whole lives. It was a matter of comprehension and perspective. Luckily Damien had an amazing teacher in Kyro. Finally, in the third month something clicked inside of Damien. His technique felt more uniform than ever but it wouldn’t hold for long. He was focusing on the key differences of the Daos, mainly ruminating on the speed aspect of it.
‘Both Daos are explosive and destructive, but the Solar Fire Dao excels in speed, agility, and overall fire power. It doesn’t have the devouring abilities of my Dao, but it has the potential to reach the pinnacle in its own right or else a World Tree wouldn’t dare cultivate it. What makes this Dao so much faster and pinpoint focused?’
In the third month Damien finally finished the complete integration. It happened suddenly out of nowhere. As he was contemplating speed, he thought of Cal and how fast he became with his Dao of Light. This led Damien to think about Sunlight and how it was the source of their day and that’s when it clicked. The Solar Fire Dao had the Light Dao naturally occurring in of itself. That’s where the mind bending speed came from along with its densely focused energies. It never occurred to him that many Daos could be naturally mixed with one another. He had the sense that everything was divided into its own category for a reason, but now everything was turning upside down.
“Daos are connected in the end! Now I know what Leylin and Yuki’s father were talking about! I was too worried about finding a common path, when in fact it’ll be one when you open your mind. Everything will work out if it's truly compatible, you just need to let it happen.”
Damien found his enlightenment and quickly tested it out. The dagger he formed out of his Dao Magic shined brightly like the sun. He unconsciously raised it above his head, toward the top of the tree. The ability resonated deeply with the Solar World Tree as it reverberated in unison. It was as if it was brought back to life once more to ordain the accomplishment of a new Dao. The activity from the tree caused it to attract solar rays from space, bringing in a column of sunlight. It basked Damien in all its glory. Kyro screeched out in excitement because he couldn’t help it.
This column of sunlight wasn’t only a sign of something glorious, but also a helping hand for Damien. His new and improved Dao was only in the beginning stages with a lot of room for improvement. This event helped solidify all the loose ends in his Dao. This was demonstrated inside of his Flame Core. The miniature Word Tree inside his core burned away into ashes. The ashes floated around like speckles of lights in a particular fashion. They all balled up together in a tightly compact form until it became one. It became a miniature sun surrounded by the white flame of his core.
On the outside his dagger was coming to full strength, filling the entire space with blinding lights. It was using all the abilities Damien had at its disposal. Forming the shape at full power with high energy light particles required all of Damien’s mana Fluid plus more. That’s where his devouring of heat ability came into play sucking in everything having to do with heat. The sunlight ray was absorbed by the dagger along with the dense Mana reserves of the Solar World Tree. Kyro was affected by it as well, however he quickly protected himself with a powerful cloak of his own Mana.
The tree shook wildly as the strength of the blade became otherworldly. Kyro watched it all happen with contradicting feelings. He did nothing as his home began to collapse from Damien’s Dao Magic. The greed of Damien’s new Dao was not satisfied until it tore the entire tree down to its roots. All that was left standing was Damien completing his technique.