His Aether flowed from his Aether arteries and into the capillaries that extended from them. Immediately, his strength surged… unevenly. A small area around each capillary felt stronger and more durable, but there were still segments of his body that the capillaries didn’t reach; the innards of his organs, for example, or anything beyond the exterior of his bones.

It was flawed, but it was good enough. Nemes pulled the Aether back into its core and sighed. It was better than nothing, but he still felt cheated. ‘If not for Apophis, all of this would’ve been unnecessary, and I’d be stronger.’

He resented the Ancient Dragon that resided in his head, even if it claimed to be him.

A few seconds passed before Nemes shook his head, clearing his mind and refocusing on his Ether. He pushed the Ether out of its core and into the conduits that were connected to it, and the Ether rapidly flowed out of his body. It seeped out from beneath his scales, and it felt as though he had just gained an entirely new limb.

He could feel and manipulate it, even outside of his body. Nemes knew of many things he could do with it now, but a vivid memory was dredged up from the depths of his memory.

The feeling of electricity coursing through his body, burning and ravaging his insides came to him. He could see the electricity that had been within his body clearly within his mind’s eye, and…

The Ether that he had dispersed into a cloud around him began to spark as the air around him began to feel strange; electrified.

Nemes grabbed hold of the Ether and began to try to compress it, but he lost the feeling of electricity in doing so. Still, he brought the Ether together within the air in the shape of a rigid rod and brought up the sensation of electricity again.

This time, with the Ether more compressed, it formed into a sharp and jagged line of powerful, coursing electricity. Nemes’ gaze locked onto a point on the wall and hurled the bolt of lightning forward, and… It exploded against the wall, leaving a black scorch mark on it but failing to cause any considerable damage.

“Impressive,” Someone said from behind him- someone he hadn’t even noticed approaching him, he had been so concentrated.

Nemes whirled around and found two people, Leon and Iroh, standing over him.

“You weren’t meant to start manipulating the arcane until we were prepared, but I’ll let it slide. Make sure not to touch your Ether again until we say so.” Iroh said, and then, “How much Ether did you expend to do that?”

Nemes looked inward and at his Ether core- more specifically, the amount of Ether left within it. It was… deficient.

“Half of it…” Nemes answered, a bit embarrassed at how much he had used for such little effect. He had hardly even damaged the wall.

“A side-effect of the Ether conduits and their improper use; don’t be ashamed. It’s still better than the majority of beings could do.” Iroh said.

‘Improper use?’

After a few seconds, Iroh spoke again, “We put you out here because we thought it’d take your mind off of everything once you awoke, but we were clearly incorrect. Now, come with us to a facility more adept in observation so that we can better understand what’s going on within you.”

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Iroh and Leon guided Nemes out of the field and back into the labyrinth of halls. They walked for almost a full minute before arriving at a large, spacious and sterile room. One of the walls was host to see-through glass, where Nemes could see a smaller but still large room housing a small group of researchers. There was a line of large, circular poles that were as tall as a human but didn’t reach the ceiling. They were all very thick and wide and made of various materials, ranging from wood to the same sort of metal alloy as what the Evergreen Institute was mostly made out of.

The humans had him go inside before closing the door. A few seconds later, they joined the small group of researchers within the room behind the glass.

Iroh’s voice played over an intercom system, “Destroy the wooden pole. Do not manipulate the arcane.”

By this point, Nemes was as large as a donkey and as strong as… something strong. Nemes didn’t know many animals; he only knew of donkeys because of the word ‘ass’.

Nemes complied without hesitation, standing on his hind legs and digging his claws into either side of the hefty wooden pole before pulling in either direction. After a full second of effort, he succeeded.

With a loud crack, he tore the wooden pole, which was roughly the size of a tree’s trunk, in two. Splinters flew, getting into his snout. If not for the layer of membrane that covered his eyes, they would’ve gotten into his eyes, too.

Once he had cleared his sinuses of wood, he was told to move onto the next pole. It was made of wood as well, but the wood looked different. The bark was a very light brown verging on copper and simply felt more durable. What was more; Nemes could see wisps of Aether locked within the tree.

Of course, almost all living things, from plants to animals to fungus, had Aether and Ether, but in the case of plants, it was usually so insignificant that it would be nigh impossible for Nemes to see it. That this wood had a visible amount of Aether within it meant that it would likely be significantly stronger.

This time, Nemes took a few seconds to try to figure out the easiest way to go about it. He could try to use his tremendous weight to weaken it and then try to tear it in two, he could steadily wear it down with his claws and teeth, or he could… actually, he couldn’t think of any other way to do it without manipulating the arcane.

He took to the first option at first, as there was no harm in it and it would be faster if it worked. Nemes moved back so that he could build up speed before charging at it with all his might.

Horns, metallic and keratin-covered bone alike, met wood. Nemes’ neck cried out in pain as his opponent didn’t move an inch, all his speed and weight put onto his neck.

He stepped back, ignoring the pain and observing the damage he had dealt. A pair of cracks ran up and down its sides, and Nemes moved to the other side of the wooden pole before digging his claws into those cracks. His body strained, every muscle in his body bulging like metal wires as he tried to tear it in two, for one second, and then two. On the third, the wood gave a tiny bit, and on the fourth, it broke.

After giving Nemes a half-minute to recover from his exertion and remove the splinters and wood-dust from his lungs and sinuses, Iroh spoke again.

“Proceed onto the third pole. You may use your Aether.”

Nemes had already been thinking on how he would deal with the third pole. It looked to be of iron and was only a bit thinner than the wooden poles. The knowledge that he could use his Aether made it seem more possible in his eyes.

Nemes infused his body with Aether. It was a shame that, since he could not infuse his claws or fangs with Aether, he wouldn’t be able to cut the metal, but he hoped that he could bring it down with brute force.

After three solid minutes of ruthlessly beating the metal, Nemes felt exhausted. His Aether reserves had ran dry on the second minute, but after the third minute in which he beat it with his raw, unenhanced body, it was battered enough that he could break it with a single, powerful attack.

Nemes moved farther back once more in order to get a running start. He used the little bit of Aether he had recovered in that time to make his neck more durable, and then charged.

Bone clad in keratin met metal, and it broke off with hardly any resistance. Nemes’ neck hardly hurt from it, even.

There were still two more poles to go, though…