Aodhán stared wide-eyed, completely awed by the small forest standing before him. He had stopped channeling the skill and dismissed the storm cloud about a minute ago. In fact, both skills had barely been active for a whole minute, yet in the span of moments, the garden had been completely transformed from a scant plain of budding flowers into... he had no idea what to call it.

Lush, verdant plants surrounded them, the least of which reached up to his knees. Still, Daruk was wrong. He hadn't fixed the garden; instead, he had created an entire forest of magical—no mutated—plants. The plants stretched out their leaves to the sun, each one crackling with green electricity and choking the others in a struggle for survival.

The dense amount of lightning and nature essence in the air wasn't helping matters either. They diffused into the still-growing plants, causing bizarre flowers and offshoots to sprout out of their verdant stems. The plants drank in the essence like a man dying of thirst, growing larger and bigger with each absorption, further exacerbating the problem.

Synové sputtered, shocked and at a complete loss for words, as she took in the magical garden. She took a step forward and traced the leaf of the nearest plant, a green rose whose stem was filled with smaller roses instead of thorns.

She turned to him and tried to speak, but no words emerged from her parted lips. Aodhán couldn't blame her; even he was shocked. He had known that the elemental lightning skill was a powerful one considering the fact that it was a class scaling skill, but he hadn't imagined it was this powerful, and although using the skill in tandem with {Lightning Descent} had drained almost ¾ of his energy pool, he knew he hadn't even touched the limit of the skill.

What would have happened if he'd added the boost of his seal? What would have happened if he'd opened up his spirit to the origin plane or used up all of his energy?

He dismissed those insane thoughts with a vigorous shake of his head. Using his seal and opening his spirit to the origin plane wasn't really a bad idea, but using up his entire energy pool was a terrible idea, and he wouldn't risk being comatose for a week just to see what would happen.

Aodhán breathed in deeply, and as the intermingled essence of lightning and nature rushed into him, Aodhán felt a jolt in his spirit that caused a refreshing wave of vitality to spread through him. Surprised, he breathed in again, this time taking in a mouthful, and he gasped as the pleasurable wave intensified, causing his muscles to loosen as if he'd just had a very good massage.

He turned to the others, and that was when he noticed they were going through the same thing. Daruk's expression was slack, and he was slouched in relaxation. Synové and Unrid, on the other hand, were going through a transformation that made his eyebrows climb all the way up to his hairline.

Unrid’s wrinkles and crow feet had faded, and it looked like he'd aged back a dozen years. His scared face had smoothed, and his receding hairline had grown out, but it was Synové who had changed the most. She had somehow grown even more beautiful. Just like Unrid, her wrinkles were gone, and her cheeks were rosy and bright, brimming with the allure of youth. She looked like she had gone back twenty years in time, and as she breathed in more of the essence, her skin glowed even brighter.

Aodhán's mind shook as he realized the full potential of the green lighting. It obviously had some sort of healing or nature effect, and he couldn't wait to experiment more on it. If simply breathing in the essence had made them look so much younger and healthier, what effect would a direct infusion of lightning have?

Before he did something he would regret, he quickly pushed down the urge to channel green lightning directly into their bodies. Better to experiment on animals first before using the skill on humans. Still, the very thought of healing abilities filled him with joy as it diversified his skillset, transforming him from a purely offensive warrior to an offensive/support one.

“I dismissed the rumors of your magical rain back in the Warren; I thought it couldn't be true, but now, I... I feel better than I have in years. I look better.” Unrid blurted out as he stared at his callus free palms. Synové had no words, so she hugged him instead, while Daruk patted his shoulders before moving to stand with Unrid.

Synové shook her head against his chest, still speechless, but Aodhán understood. They stood like that for almost a minute before Synové finally asked. “How is this possible? Neither of you have a nature or healing affinity.”

“I got a new skill along with my seal.” Aodhán replied, smiling lightly. “It allows me to summon elemental lightning instead of the usual white-gold, and apparently, one of them has the ability to heal.”

Unrid shook his head, baffled. “This—he gestured to the forest of lush plants—is the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. I…thank you.”

Aodhán nodded, and they all just stared at the forest in awe until Synové gasped. “By ascendants, I need a mirror.” She rushed into the house with Unrid, both excited to see their new looks, and Daruk shook his head in amusement. “I'm surprised that this happened, but I'm not exactly shocked.”

Aodhán raised a questioning brow, and Daruk chuckled. “How you always find yourself in situations like this is a mystery only Raol can explain.”

“You literally asked me to do this, remember, like five minutes ago.”

“Nope.” Daruk smirked. “I asked you to make the lightning bigger, not to create an entire forest in the garden. And speaking of, are these plants even mundane?”

Aodhán sighed. “No, they're not.”

Gwendolyn Blackwood had spent four weeks teaching them how to identify and harvest awakened plants, and even if he was blind, he couldn't miss the electrifying aura radiating off each plant. Normally, this would be a cause for joy, as it simply meant he could sell them and make a lot of money, but even with his limited experience, he could tell that there was something wrong with these plants.

It was more appropriate to call them mutated plants rather than awakened ones. From what he understood of the elemental lightning skill, the green lightning had sunk into the earth and saturated the dormant seeds within it with dense healing or life energy, causing them to sprout rapidly. What that meant was that he now had a forest of plants, mutated by lightning and life/nature essence.

To the side was a rose stalk that reached all the way to his shoulders and was covered in crackling green roses. He moved towards it, kneeled down, and meticulously following the instructions Gwendolyn had taught, he uprooted the plant.

Still, he must have messed things up, as the plant wilted almost immediately and died. He discarded it and harvested another, this time a spinach plant with extremely large leaves and a stem gently pulsing with greenish energy. Fortunately, this one was harvested right, and after observing it for a long time, he took out his textbook on awakened plants and began riffling through it, trying to find anything on the topic of plant mutations.

Five minutes later, as he turned to the last page, Daruk muttered. “It's either too advanced for first-year students, or perhaps, like your familiar, you've done the impossible. Again.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Aodhán glared at him, but he had to admit that Daruk was probably right. There was nothing in the whole textbook that even hinted at mutations or the transformation of a mundane plant into an awakened one. But Aodhán was convinced that somewhere, somehow, it existed. Surely, he couldn't be the first to discover something like this.

“Why do they keep dying so easily?” Daruk asked, and Aodhán looked up to find him holding a bunch of dead plants. That was another proof that the plants weren't exactly awakened, as they seemed heavily dependent on the energy within the soil, and even that, he suspected, would need to be replenished constantly to prevent the plants from dying.

Perhaps it was because the plants and seeds had been oversaturated with the lightning, or perhaps it was just a limit of the skill; however, he doubted the latter. He needed to carry out several experiments with the lightning to understand it; until then, he was just as confused and lost as Daruk.

“Uhn, this one too.” Daruk complained as he uprooted another plant, which immediately withered. “These things really have a short life span. Are all awakened plants like this?”

“No.” Aodhán sighed. Perhaps he wasn't quite as lost as Daruk after all. “Awakened plants can last for hours even when improperly harvested, and although they lose most of their potency, they're not supposed to wither and die immediately after being harvested.”

Daruk frowned in confusion and shook the bunch of dead plants held in his palms. “So, these aren't awakened plants?”

Aodhán snorted. “No, they're a sort of mutation that I do not understand.”

He searched through the textbook one more time, and when he still found nothing, he decided to text Gwendolyn. Directly texting teachers was frowned upon by the academy, but it wasn't exactly a crime. Besides, Gwendolyn wasn't an actual teacher.

He explained the nature of the mutations in his text, although he refrained from stating that he'd been the cause, and asked if such a thing was a common occurrence.

He and Daruk waited patiently for a response, but after half an hour of waiting, Aodhán decided to text Rahim instead.

"What is it this time?" Rahim replied barely a minute later, and this time, Aodhán explained everything that had happened. His new skill and how he'd created an entire forest of mutated plants in his parents backyard.

A portal shimmered into existence before he even finished, and Rahim rushed out, eyes wide, as he took in the crackling forest with a bewildered expression.

Aodhán tried to speak, but before he could, a shimmering dome of spatial energy appeared above the house, and Rahim glared at them. “How long has this been here?”

“About an hour.” Aodhán replied, confused. “Why?”

“Because there are still reporters lurking around. Any of them could see, and then you'll have to explain the sudden appearance of a forest crackling with electricity in your backyard.”

Aodhán's eyes widened as he realized his mistake. He couldn't stomach another interview, nor did he want the reporters asking about his skills or, heavens forbid, finding out about his seal. He was already in the limelight, but giving the reporters more things to talk about wouldn't help matters.

Synové and Unrid stepped out of the house a moment later, their expressions souring when they noticed Rahim. Aodhán ignored them and instead willed another storm cloud into existence before channeling energy and willpower into {Elemental Lightning—Black}.

Black lightning washed over the verdant forest, destroying everything in it's path until all that was left was blackened land covered in ash.

Synové whimpered at the sight, her eyes wide as she took in the destruction of her garden.

“I'm sorry—” Aodhán began, but she cut him off with a glare and said, “Fix my garden.”

He nodded and handed over the spinach he'd harvested earlier. “I promise.”

Her gaze turned to Daruk, and he raised his hand innocently. “I had nothing to do with it.”

Synové's glare intensified, and she took a single, threatening step forward. “Daruk Christopher Brystion, I swear to the ascendants that if you do not join your brother in fixing this garden, I will strangle you to death.” She stalked back into the house after that, and Unrid chuckled, shrugging helplessly, before following her.

When they'd both left, Aodhán turned back to Rahim. “I’m sorry for my parents sour welcome."

Rahim shrugged. “We can't always be liked. Your father is at least polite, but your mother...

“Is a real menace.” Daruk muttered darkly, and Rahim sighed. “Anyway, try not to do anything too flashy until you're within the protection of the academy walls once more. Also, I noticed how much healthier your parents look; I'm assuming it's as a result of this life-aspect lightning.”

When they both nodded, Rahim continued. “I hope I don't need to remind you to carry out your experiments on animals first.”

“No.” Aodhán shook his head. “I don't plan on using it on people until I understand how exactly it works.”

“Good. Don't text me again. In fact, I don't want to see your face until next week.”

Rahim teleported out of the barren garden after that, and Daruk muttered. “What a mess! You want to fix the garden now?”

Aodhán shook his head. “That'll be tomorrow. Right now, I'm famished and exhausted.”

They walked into the house a moment later and found Unrid already seated at the dining table, downing a cup of water. When they reached the dining room, Unrid added more water to the cup and stretched it towards Daruk. “Can you transform this into your coldest, most glacial-melt, polar-bear-approved ice water? Make it so cold that even an ice elemental would shiver!”

Daruk snorted as he grabbed the cup. “Unfortunately for you, Dad, I'm not ready for you to die yet.” Aodhán chuckled, while Unrid sighed in disappointment. Still, Daruk made the water cold enough that the glass cup was immediately covered in frost, and a chill mist emitted from it.

Unrid downed the cup in a single gulp, and Aodhán laughed as Unrid's face turned slightly blue, although he immediately combated the chill with a flare of fire essence.

“Ahh, I think I'll have the same thing.” Aodhán stretched his own cup to Daruk, who glared at him and muttered. “I'm not a waiter!”

He chilled the cup anyway, and Aodhán sighed blissfully as the cold liquid went down his throat. Synové came out of the kitchen a moment later with a steaming tray of mashed potatoes and roasted chicken. Despite the sweat still clinging to her body, she looked radiant.

Synové had always been beautiful, but now she almost looked like an awakened with how flawless and perfect she looked. She set the tray down on the table, and if anyone noticed the extra chicken in his bowl, no one mentioned it. Women were always extra when it came to looking younger and prettier, so he took the extra chicken as a sign of appreciation and dug into the food immediately.

“So, what happened in the last two days since I was gone?” He asked after a few minutes, and Synové began narrating. “Oh, it was terrible. The reporters returned with even more numbers, and although we managed to convince them that you truly weren't around, they hung around, dropping by at irregular intervals and asking to speak with you.”

“I got angry yesterday and covered the entire porch in a mass of jagged icicles.” Daruk added, and Aodhán chuckled at the image, but Unrid snorted. “That would have been good if it had worked; instead, they began knocking on the windows.”

Synové shook her head. “All morning, we've been dreading another knock on that door.”

As the complaints continued, Aodhán felt the simmering rage within him begin to stir. The events of the last two hours had pushed it to the back of his mind, but now that it had stirred, it was all he could feel and think of. The reporters were doing too much, and although he understood their curiosity, after all, it was only natural; they were being too invasive.

“What about the agents?” He asked, and Synové shook her head. “No sign of them, just the reporters.”

“Don't worry about it.” Unrid said calmly. “We can handle it; besides, you'll be gone in a week, and then they'll eventually have to leave.”

“Or they'll stay and just keep harassing you.” Aodhán muttered angrily.

“I honestly doubt that.” Daruk replied. “Remember, they don't even care about me; all they're concerned about is Varéc and finding out how you bonded with him.”

Aodhán nodded and pushed down the rage growing within him. He understood that the reporters were just trying to do their jobs, but there was only so much invasion of privacy he could take, and he couldn't have his parents scared in their own home.

Synové and Unrid shifted the conversation away from the topic of reporters when they noticed that it was upsetting him, and Aodhán let his mind drift away from it too; he would deal with it later.

Still, the rage didn't subside, and he had to take several deep breaths to get himself under control. But just as he began to get a handle on the infernal emotion, a knock resounded on the door.

He lost his grip on the emotion, and it roared through him. His vision went red, his self-control withered, and with astonishing speed, he dashed forward, pulled the door open, and aimed a black lightning spear at the intruder.

The crackling spear stopped only an inch away from the intruder's neck as all of Aodhán's emotions drained out of him like water in a sink, and the intruder gave a sly smirk.

“Nice to see you too, Sparky. Do I get a hug or just the electrotherapy?”