One week later

Third POV:

In a random cave next to a freshwater stream, a boy was playing with blocks made of a compressed string-like substance.

That boy was Itami, and he was building cores with blocks made of aether.

Currently, Itami's still working on phase 3 fusion.

However, he's making good progress.

Now, he's able to make his block-like cores with an 80 percent chance of success.

Although the conventional way is to make a yarn-like ball, Itami compressed the aether strings into cubes because it helped him visualize the building process.

Nevertheless, at first, it didn't go as easily as planned.

There were two problems when Itami started compressing the aether into cubes.

When he first began compressing, it either took too long, or there would be loose strings of aether.

At first glance, the latter would be the bulk of the trouble, but unexpectedly, the strings were the most dangerous.

When Itami took too long to construct a core, although troublesome, he could override it with pure ether.

The only downside is that it'd be less powerful.

However, when a single strand of aether came undone during an attack, it messed up his visualization, and it wouldn't work as intended.

In the experimental phase, these errors had led to little things like attacks failing, but had he put more ether into the cores, they could've exploded in his face.

Fortunately, these events also shed some light on how special Itami was.

If a person without innate ether sense tried to pour mass amounts of ether into a ball of aether, it would blow up in their face.

However, while it was still dangerous for him, he could cut off ether flow to the core before it assembled or try to find the loose string and compress it back.

Nevertheless, to avoid any issues, Itami focused on memorizing the feeling of success and comparing it to failure.

Thankfully, he didn't have to be perfect; he only had to make sure it was in the 95% success range.

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Edwards' Pov:

The boy is truly a novelty, and his unique way of core construction is beautiful.

It looked like thousands of little white blocks flowing together to build a cube structure.

Honestly, when the boy approached me with the idea of changing the shape of his cores, I thought he was going to fail miserably.

However, on his first try, although very slow, he had success.

As a researcher, I commended him on his progress because he was treading on a path few ever had.

Although previously people had tried to change the core's shape, very few succeeded.

The requirements for the technique were too severe.

It required one to have an innate sense for ether or aether or have a spirit that processed it for him.

This was rare in Chevalier, and only one in a hundred thousand meet these requirements.

This may seem like a lot, but only about 1 thousand people pass the exam every year out of the millions of applicants who apply.

It would be accurate to say once every 10 years, someone like Itami appears.

Another reason this is seldom done is because it might mess up your astral arts.

Most astral arts are constructed with the string-ball formula in mind, so often when one creates a unique shape, it fails.

However, this wouldn't be much of a loss because everyone has a different ether.

This makes it hard to use other's ether arts, but one can copy concepts.

This is why big families, armada, academies, and The Guild have such power because they have access to research that civilians don't.

Another thing to consider is that it gives the same benefits to Itami.

By having his arts formed with his cuboidal formula rather than the string-ball formula, It acts as a firewall against potential thieves.

Nevertheless, regardless of what troubles it may bring, he'll be able to deal with it and adjust.

1 month later

Third pov:

It's been 3 months since training began, and Itami is about to finish the last phase of shell creation.

Although, ordinarily, this was supposed to be the most difficult phase, Itami completed it quickly because he'd already had experience making astral arts.

Now, he had to create a core, stick it in it, and adjust his ether to accommodate it.

Today was his final test launch, and he began creating the core.

"Time to begin," Itami said excitedly.

Suddenly, swirls of cubes filled with compressed white aether started to form on the tips of his rods, creating a sphere shape.

" Construct core. 10% - 50%- 100 %. Good core is optimal."

" Now time for shell creation: model Ether Cannon."

Itami decided to use a simple Ether blast because it was the easiest to create.

Suddenly, a blue shell started to surround the aether, and when the two fused, the attack turned a bright yellow.

This was Itami's aetheric reaction and a sign of success.

Honestly, when he saw the bright yellow glow of the sphere, he almost lost control of the attack.

It was too reminiscent of his father's.

However, he quickly dried up his tears to focus on the task at hand.

He'd finally learned shell creation, and was ready to see what it could do.

Breathing heavy with anticipation, he inhaled and yelled at the top of his lungs words that he'd been longing to say

" Target on lock. Ether Cannon!!"

After declaring these words in the atmosphere, Itami's Cannon zoomed to a nearby mountain.

**boom**

Suddenly, a gash opened like a freshly healed wound, and snow started to pour into it like blood.

Seeing the damage he'd caused, Itami was ecstatic.

Now, it was time to test his other technique, Swallow.

Itami began creating an ether bubble as usual, and similarly, to earlier Itami, constructed another core.

Just like before, a beautiful swirl of white blocks surrounded him.

Except this time, he was extra careful as it was on his back.

Quickly, the blocks kept dancing around his figure until it was time to create the shell.

Using his ether, Itami constructed wing-like jets and a flare on his head.

Itami added this feature because he could use it as offense or defense if his hands were occupied.

Once, everything was formed Itami began to move.

boom

If before Itami was moving as fast as a weak bishop, he's now moving faster than a speed-specialized bishop, and it didn't end there.

If one could slow down Itami's movements, he looked truly majestic.

With a blue flare bursting out of Itami's head and yellow wing-like jets bursting from his back, he looked like a phoenix.

However, it didn't come without a cost.

He was still being injured from the technique.

Previously, Itami had tried many ways to make the technique safer, and he decided on one that suited him well.

Brute force.

Itami was going to push his body to the limit underneath the stress of the technique in hopes that it would adapt to the strain.

First, he started bleeding from his ears and then his mouth until he quickly stopped when he felt a trail of blood from his eyes.

Once Itami finished activating 'Swallow', he smiled brightly with blood-stained teeth.

Although he was in immense pain, he knew he'd grown in strength, so he pumped his fist in the air because that was all that mattered.