[9:30] Heaven Floor, Fourth Plane
“The Garden.” Zuri gazed at the magnificent tree with shining eyes. She had never seen something so beautiful, and inviting. It felt like she could let go of her troubles as long as she laid beneath its branches.
“That’s our Life Tree,” Somo explained as he descended with Zuri. “Some records claim that it used to be part of an ancient great tree, but we have no way of confirming it.”
Surprisingly, no one stopped Somo and Zuri as they landed on the grass among several sitting or kneeling avians. It seemed they did not consider a possibility where someone tried to harm the Life Tree. Either that, or the Life Tree had self-defense capabalities.
“The Life Tree births and gathers Wind and Earth Elementals beneath its boughs.” Somo pulled Zuri to sit down next to him and continued his explanation, “Non-innate Elementalists come here to communicate with, and try to form a pact with the gathered Elementals. You can’t make a name for yourself in the top planes without becoming a Wind Elemental.”
“Why?”
“Because an avian’s greatest strength and pride is their wings.” Somo proudly pointed at his folded wings. “But, our maneuverability in the air is restricted precisely because we rely on wings for flight.”
Movie scenes where people with wings could fly in any and all directions were just too unrealistic. In some a stationary winged character could almost instantaneously dash laterally, but in reality, they would need to catch a sharp wind with their wings to achieve that effect.
Ancient avians, aware of this fact, quickly arrived at a solution. If they needed wind, they just had to create and control wind. By manipulating the air currents around their wings, they could theoretically moved any way they willed without needing to generate the required force themselves.
The avians first tried magic, but while magic was indeed powerful, cast times were too slow, and the resultant wind was too rigid. After several experiments, they finally stumbled upon using wind elementals.
Elementalists were different from magicians. Elementalists drew power from Elementals to manipulate the basic elements. Due to this, they had much more flexibility when manipulating an element. In return, however, they were limited by the level of their elementals, and their firepower was often far smaller than magicians.
To the avians, however, this much was enough. Even the weakest elementalists could manipulate air currents, giving them incredible mobility. The strongest amongst them could generate dangerous currents on par with natural disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes. Of course, there were extremely few on that level, and it took many years of training for elementalists with powerful Elementals to learn how to control such forces.
“Elementals are graded from Tier 1 to 6, with 1 being the lowest, and 6 being the highest,” Somo explained and then whispered, “Tier 6 is little more than a rumor, though. No one’s ever seen or contracted a Tier 6 Elemental. I can’t even imagine how strong such an avian would be.”
Zuri blinked and looked at Somo with interest. The avian teen did not seem to be interested in the Elementals here. “What Tier Elementalist are you?”
Somo grinned, and strutted out his chest as he boasted, “Don’t freak out now, but yours truly is a rare Tier 5 elementalists, and an innate one at that.” Despite his words, Somo peeked at Zuri, hoping to see some shock and admiration.
“Wow, that’s cool!” Zuri excitedly praised with pure admiration. However, her gaze then turned fierce with battle intent as she clenched her fists. “Zuri has to do better than you. How can Zuri contract a more powerful Elemental?”
Zuri’s reply left Somo with mixed feelings. On one hand, he accomplished his goal of impressing her, but he could tell Zuri did not fake her battle intent. It felt more like when his disciple brothers challenged him back on the first floor.
‘One step at a time, Somo. Don’t be impatient.’ Somo coughed as he recalled his master’s teachings (Of course the teaching had nothing to do with picking up girls, but Somo did not care.)
“Haha, I’ll be cheering for you.” Somo did not go out of his way to discourage the naïve avian girl. What were the chances of a Tier 5 elementalist showing up? There were less than a dozen living Tier 5 elementalists in all nine planes. They wouldn’t be special if they popped up like cabbages!
Despite his doubt, Somo diligently taught Zuri. “To attract an elemental, you just need to release your ki. No one’s entirely sure how Wind Elementals choose their contractors, but having powerful ki does help a bit.” Somo shot Zuri a thumbs-up. “I think you’re pretty strong, so you’ll attract a couple strong ones.”
“Mm.” Zuri nodded as she closed her eyes. ‘Release ki.’
“Always make sure your ki is under control.”
At that moment, Zuri recalled one of Rider’s warnings during their training sessions. For some reason, Rider was always particular about Zuri keeping her ki under control. Even in the heat of battle, he ensured she consciously restricted her ki from going wild.
“Sorry, Gray-ojiisan.” Zuri resolutely made up her mind. To complete Kashi’s mission she would do anything, even if it meant defying Rider’s orders. The little warrior pushed her mind to the depths of her soul and body.
Metaphorically, Zuri had blocked her channels with thousands of stoppers to prevent her ki from leaking out. However, on this day, to achieve the best possible result, Zuri pulled them all out.
Whurrr~ For the briefest of seconds, light seemed to disappear from the world. Following that, a great chill burst through the garden, causing many ‘bubbles’ to flee in fright. The meditating avians also woke up, their feathers rustling as they sensed a terrifying threat.
“What in the world?” Somo murmured in disbelief and then looked at Zuri, who appeared to be the center of the commotion. “Is she doing this?”
Boom! An intense gale suddenly blasted Somo several dozen meters away. The young man quickly unleashed a burst of wind to stabilize himself mid-air and then looked at the area in shock.
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A massive twenty-meter whirwind had formed at some point with Zuri at the center. Somo spotted dozens of wind elementals within the whirlwind, frantically rushing about Zuri, seemingly without rhyme or reason. The frantic wind elementals were the cause of the whirlwind. Somo could not understand why they suddenly went berserk.
Zuri, meanwhile, was oblivious to everything happening around her. From the moment she unleashed her aura, thousands of voices assaulted her mind at once. Many Wind Elementals frantically wanted to form a bond with her, but most of them instantly went berserk after coming in contact with her ki.
Only now did Zuri understand why Rider was so concerned about her ki. Zuri’s innate [Beast Soul Possession] was a divine skill that did not belong in the mortal realm. After mixing so many souls within her, Zuri’s ki had mutated into something fierce, feral and nearing primordial status.
Intelligent creatures could maintain their sanity around Zuri’s ki, but it was fatal to instinctive creatures like most monsters and these Elementals. For such creatures, absorbing Zuri’s ki was like overloading a simple computer with quantum-level calculations.
For the lucky ones, least, their mental faculties would temporarily crash, resulting in them turning berserk, but it could be fatal for the unlucky few. Rider noticed this during Zuri’s first werewolf transformation, and thus instructed her to control her ki.
Fortunately, the meditating avians managed to escape in time, preventing any casualties. Unfortunately, no one could approach the garden. A few avians tried, and immediately lost control of their elementals. Since then, no one dared.
As a result, the avians could only watch in terror as the whirlwind slowly got bigger, sucking in more elementals, who also went berserk.
“The Life Tree is in danger!” An avian shouted when the whirlwind began to near the Life Tree. At this point, several avians readied their spears with grim expressions. They could not permit the Life Tree to fall. They would have to kill the avian causing this disturbance, even if it cost them their lives!
Somo noticed the rapidly deteriorating situation and immensely regretted bring Zuri here. Had he brought her to her death? Despite his patriotic heart understanding why she had to die, Somo flew in front of the suicide squad and drew his spear. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you guys kill her.”
An enraged middle-aged avian pointed his spear at the teenager. “Can you take responsibility if she harms the Life Tree!?”
“No.” Somo gritted his teeth. “But at the very least, give me a chance to snap her out of it. I brought her here. I should at least take that much responsibility.” With those words, Somo summoned his elemental.
An azure blue ball appeared next to Somo. Incredible energy pulsated off the floating ball as it whirled around Somo.
“That energy… A Tier 5 Elementalist!” An avian’s eyes widened in shock. “At that age. He must be Somo, Furlian’s Prime Disciple! Quick, capture him! We won’t be able to contain that old bird’s rage if Somo dies here.”
“No! Wait! Stop!” Somo futilely screamed as dozens of avians quickly surrounded, and beat him into submission. He could have escaped if he was heavy-handed, but even his ego could not justify killing his clansmen just to save a girl he just met. Risking his life was one thing, but he could not endanger their lives.
Somo hung his head in abject defeat as he watched the suicide squad approach the whirlwind. “I’m sorry, Zuri. I failed.”
“Everyone, retreat!”
An androgynous, high-pitched voice spread into the minds of everyone in The Garden just before the suicide squad reached the whirlwind’s edges.
To Somo’s shock, ninety percent of the avians suddenly dropped to their knees in reverent poses. In all his teaching, Somo’s master never mentioned a being they worshipped. Why were so many avians on their knees, then?
“I shall handle this errant child.” The strange voice continued. This time, however, Somo heard the voice coming from the Life Tree. He looked over, and his eyes widened in shock when he spotted a small white snake slithering down the tree trunk.
“Great Kukulkan!” An elder raised his voice in reverence as the snake surprisingly flew through the air, and faced the expanding whirlwind.
The strange snake glanced at the elder. “I am but a remnant of Kukulkan. Please refrain from addressing me by that name.”
The avian’s hands trembled. “But—”
The snake shook its head and let out a resigned sigh at the avian’s sigh. Several centuries had passed, yet each generation insisted on holding onto a past long gone. It knew it could not change the avians, so it instead turned its attention to the girl within the whirlwind.
“Intriguing.” The snake’s dark eyes gleamed as it observed Zuri. ‘You do not belong here.’ It glanced at the ceiling above, but its gaze seemed to see much farther. “So, Razznik, you really kept your word. Very well, I shall keep my end of the bargain.”
The snake let out a gently breath and then said, “Sleep.”
The snake’s breath turned into a green gale that softly infused into the whirlwind. The green gale quickly permeated through the errant winds until it consumed the entire thing, and then silently dispersed.
The snake then flew down to the little ‘avian’ girl who was slowly waking up from a trance. Having so many chaotic voices in their mind could drive a person insane, but fortunately, Zuri awoke with clear, albeit fatigued eyes.
“Did Zuri fail?” Zuri blinked as she regained her bearings. She did not understand what happened. One second, she had many elementals clamoring to be selected, then everything went haywire. The elementals suddenly went berserk, as a result, failed to make the connection required to form a contract. “Why? What did Zuri do wrong?”
“You did not do anything wrong.” The snake comforted the sullen girl, who regarded it with interest.
“A flying snake?” Zuri’s eyes rapidly widened with interest, but her excitement died just as quickly. “It does not matter if Zuri did nothing wrong. Zuri still failed.”
The ‘flying snake’ chuckled as it observed Zuri and then revealed a pleasant smile. “The smell around you. I can understand why the children went berserk.”
“What?”
“Daeben child. You have been around Yggdrasil, or someone steeped in its aura.” The flying snake curled in the air as it observed Zuri’s stiff expression. “Do not fret. I will not expose you.” The flying snake then loudly asked a question that left the avians picking their jaws off the floor. “Child. Would you like to form a contract with this little one?”
The flying snake opened its mouth, and a tiny azure ball flew out. However, everyone’s eyes, the ball shimmered and then scattered, revealing a blue-haired, pale-skinned foot-long fairy with shimmering transparent wings.
“Th-that! A humanoid elemental!” A knowledgeable elder gaped in fright as he pointed at the elemental fairy with a shaky finger. “I-I-It’s a Tier 6 Elemental!”
“What!?”