Chapter 18 – Road for survival
The storm hadn't passed—it had merely gone silent.
Kael sat cross-legged in the training cliffs' hollow alcove just past midnight, wind weaving softly through the reeds. The moonlight glimmered on the ocean surface far below, but his thoughts were deeper still, tangled between fear and momentum.
Disciple stage.
The word had haunted him since the moment Mavren uttered it.
It wasn't just a rank. Not anymore. It was a line in the sand—between survival and collapse.
"If you remain as you are, your body will crumble before you even reach Disciple."
He could still feel the echo of those words beneath his ribs, like pressure behind the lungs. And yet… in that same breath, Mavren had given him a path. A quiet window.
Kael's fingers brushed the sealed crystal on the ground beside him.
He wasn't naive. Whatever Mavren's motives, the Tower wouldn't wait forever. If he didn't stabilize his core, the lightning would force its way out—violent, raw, and unmistakable.
I need control. Discipline. And time.
The first two he could shape. The last, he'd have to steal.
He opened his System window again:
User: Kael Caelum
Stage: Initiate
Core Progress: 47%
Affinities:
– Wind (Unstabilized)
– Water (Stabilized)
– Lightning (Hidden/Locked)
Traits:
– [Hydrothread]
– [Gust Step]
– [Storm Core – Fragmented]
Warning: Latent Lightning Surge – Containment Active
Fifty-three percent left.
Less than half a stage to ascend. But that half would be the hardest part.
The academy's cultivation resources weren't bad. Breath chambers, weighted resistance halls, instructor guidance. But they were all designed for safe, gradual growth.
He didn't have that luxury.
So he began to strategize.
Step one: water mastery.
It was the calmest of his elements, and the only one that listened without rebelling. If he could push Hydrothread beyond a simple redirection technique, perhaps even evolve it into a full-body flow-state technique, he could stabilize the core faster through fluid motion, not brute power.
The answer, he suspected, wasn't just in offense—but breathing techniques. Instructor Harn's foundational manual was only the surface. Water moved with breath. If he could integrate both, his core might cycle cleaner.
Hydrothread is the key to making my mana dance. Wind surges. Water guides.
I can't rush it. But I can refine it.
He would ask Joran to help him spar defensively, using water as a redirector, flow-for-flow. Joran's barrier techniques were getting creative—blunt, precise, and responsive. Together, they might forge something new. A way to grow without being seen.
Step two: wind training—alone.
The wind was more than a weapon—it was alive. It responded to instinct, not logic. Whenever he summoned it directly, his spiritual threads frayed, and the system's warnings surged.
But if he used it in movement, rather than release…
Gust Step was a primer. A stepping stone. If he could chain it, layer it, mold his body to slip through wind rather than call it outright, perhaps he could train it in shadow—without alerting the Tower or the academy's sensors.
A trickle. Never a surge.
Step three: Beast cores.
Kael's hand tightened.
Without bestial affinity, he couldn't absorb cores directly. But they still held immense mana value—and in black market or outer city channels, they could be traded for elemental stones, spirit-thread ink, and refinement powder used by even top-tier families.
And no one tracked core traders. Not closely.
He'd have to slip out of the academy, perhaps during weekend field passes. The forests beyond the cliffs were still wild—untamed, but not forbidden. Creatures lingered there. Low-tier, but enough to build a stock.
If I can trade five to ten low-rank beast cores, I might afford a wind-stone—enough to let me practice channeling without endangering my body.
It would be dangerous, but he'd faced worse.
Back in his room, Kael unfolded a rough parchment map of the surrounding region.
He marked three things:
– Whispergrove Ridge: a lightly patrolled outer territory known to spawn low-tier lightning or wind beasts.
– Moonlace Hollow: a small glade where water mana thickened naturally—ideal for meditation.
– The Eastern Slipstream: a narrow cliff trail where wind formed chaotic tunnels. Perhaps ideal for training reflexes and Gust Step chaining.
He circled them all.
Then, finally, he wrote two names in the corner of the map.
Joran — for water training.
Father's teachings — for wind theory.
He hasn't forgotten his father's teachings concerning the wind one bit, although most were before he turned 12, he remembered his father's obscure way of talking. Always in poetry. He would have to rely on subtle understanding to achieve wind mastery.
A knock at the door broke his focus.
Joran stood outside, holding two wrapped practice blades and an unusually serious look.
"I couldn't sleep," he said. "You either, I guess?"
Kael smiled faintly. "No. I was just thinking."
Joran nodded and glanced at the parchment. "Is that where we're training?"
Kael raised an eyebrow. "We?"
Joran smirked. "You're not going alone."
System Notification
Progression Goal Set: Disciple Stage Ascension – Estimated Timeline: 6 months
Core Stability Plan Initialized
Affinity Focus:
– Water (Training Pair: Set)
– Wind (Solo Stealth Mode: Active)
Side Objective: Acquire 7+ Tier-1 Beast Cores
→ Exchange Recommended: Wind Stone, Tempered Breath Scroll
Suppression Crystal Status: Stable – Duration Limit: 6 months
And so the path was chosen.
Not loud. Not public. Not heroic.
But Kael didn't need to be a hero.
He needed to survive.
And when the time came to rise…