Daze mountain range.
Since the time the location of the iron mine was revealed and Marcus captured it, he hadn't been here.
However, he was aware that a small settlement had been established near the mining area for the miners to reside.
Unlike the first time that he was here, this place was bustling with smiles.
The miners, former slaves, had smiles on their faces as they worked.
Their clothes weren't like rags anymore. They had received proper clothing and salary from Marcus too.
Despite how physically taxing their work was, they felt like there was nothing better than it.
When Marcus stopped by the small settlement, the miners off duty gathered to greet him.
Seeing their enthusiasm, Marcus smiled and said a few words to them.
He had come here to secretly test a few things, so he would be going a little bit deeper into the mountain range.
By the time they arrived in a valley, Marcus came down from his horse.
"Logail, Floki, stay back a bit. Don't come too close to me. I want to test a few things out."
"Yes, sir." The knights exchanged a look, both wondering what Marcus had in mind.
This was Daze, a very strange place. Though nothing had happened over the years, and they were still technically within the outer perimeter of the mountain range, there were still beasts that would walk out from time to time.
Marcus looked up, but not before using a hand to shield his eyes from the afternoon sun.
Before coming here, he had realized a few things regarding the imbalance of his will.
The first being that, his will could let him use his Mind's Eyes. The higher the will, the longer and stronger the ability would last.
Secondly, his will was consumable, and once exhausted, it could recover, albeit slowly.
He had spent more than eighty percent of his will when he was assembling the gauntlet, and even though that was hours ago, barely ten percent of the will power had recovered.
And then thirdly, with meditation, the recovery of his will would be faster.
But that wasn't why he was here.
Marcus sat on the ground and closed his eyes. He was mainly here to begin training the Five Elements Arts.
He feared that it would cause a commotion, hence his reason for being here.
To start cultivating the Five Elements Arts, I will need to draw upon Elemental Aspects.
According to the Physical Path art, Aspects in this case are elemental energies.
At first, Marcus thought it was the same thing as mana, but he soon realized that it wasn't completely so.
Mana in and of itself is an amalgamation of energies that flows through the world.
However, Aspect refers to specific energies within mana.
Which also made things a bit confusing for Marcus, because he thought; "Wouldn't mana as a whole be a more powerful force than individual Aspects?"
The answer to this is something he can only find out by trying it out himself.
Seek the elements out and draw upon their Aspects, guiding them through the first Pulse. The Pulse of the Heart, to awaken the body.
He recited the beginning to himself as he sought out the elemental Aspects within mana.
Invisible to the eyes, swirls of mana slowly surrounded Marcus.
Perhaps because he had reached the Entry level of the Mind's Eyes technique. Marcus was easily able to pick out five unique energies from the mana surrounding him.
Unlike the Mental Path that requires the Breath of Life to awaken Pulses, the Physical Path wasn't so.
Like little drums being struck, creating barely audible sounds. Five threads of different colors were separated and woven from the mana that surrounded Marcus.
Red for fire, blue for water, green for earth, white for air, and black for metal.
This was how he identified them, however, a thought crossed his mind that what he was seeing was just the surface level.
Nonetheless, he proceeded to draw these threads closer.
They penetrated his skin, causing him variations of pain. From the red thread, Marcus felt immense heat that made it feel like his skin was melting.
From the blue, it gave him the sensation of immersion before freezing him. Marcus felt as if he was drowning.
The green buried him in a world of wood, sand, and rocks. It was solid, immovable, and certain.
The black came as many things, but what he could make out was an unworldly chill that even surpassed that of the blue thread.
Marcus felt like his world was coming to an end.
He had died a few times, but now, he truly felt like he was bordering on the edge of death.
Dying in this state would surely mean death. No redo…
This he was almost certain of. This was the feeling these elements gave him.
Just when Marcus felt like he couldn't hold on anymore, the white thread finally inserted itself into his skin.
Like rain that comes after the sun has scorched the earth. Like an oasis found in a vast desert, this white thread rescued him from the torture of the rest.
It came with a soft wind that countered the chills of the black thread. A saintly aura that suppressed the other threads.
Suddenly, the energy from these threads reached a balance, and the world, to Marcus, went silent.
There was no light.
No darkness.
No thoughts.
Only him.
The moment Marcus opened his eyes, it was as if a part of the world awakened.
Lights like pillars descended upon this valley. Hymns forgotten by this epoch rang out.
Specks of dust, carrying faint forms of humanoid creatures flicker into existence and they looked down upon where Marcus was.
This phenomenon, the commotion that it caused was too much.
Floki and Logail were paralyzed by it. They had long found something strange in the longer they watched the young lord seated in silence.
And then suddenly, pillars of light appeared in broad daylight!
It was crippling.
Moreover, they felt a different type of power coming from the flickering humanoids in the sky.
The hymns invaded their bodies, tore them down, before comforting and healing them.
It was a repeating cycle that made them unable to move.
The disturbance was so big that even those in Agard's Eastern District, those with higher perceptions, were able to sense it and they dreaded it.
Suddenly, the flickering humanoids opened their mouths and spoke in unison. "The way of the Spirits is the way of nature. Let it flow and let it take its course. Do not forget this, remnant of the Old-"
Clap!
Boom!
Before they could complete this statement, thunder struck, shaking the entire Daze mountain range.
It was as if what they were about to say was taboo.
This thunder erased them, interrupting the hymns and forcing them back into silence.
It also awakened Marcus from the trance he had long fallen into.
As though something grabbed his attention, he quickly looked at the sky.
"Argh!" He immediately looked down and rubbed his eyes. Marcus realized that he had looked at something he wasn't meant to see.
Fear gripped his heart and his mind began breaking down.
This… he had felt it before.
This breakdown, he had experienced it in the past, albeit slowly.
It was how he turned mad.
Right before his mind could break anymore, his status window appeared before his gaze and erased every damage caused by what he saw.
But with the erasure of this damage, Marcus could feel something important rapidly being consumed from his body.
[+4000 Achievement Points.]
[+3400 days.]
…
[Name: Marcus Sirdi.]
[Age: 24.]
[Level: 2 (Mage), (Sage).]
[Race: Human.]
[Mana: 3000.]
[Titles: Lord With A Will (Lv2)]
[Pathfinder: Will 50/20. Strength 70/120. Dexterity 70/100.]
[Achievement Points: 5253]
[Arcane Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Advanced Technological Knowledge Learned (Lv2). Body Modification Knowledge Locked. Futuristic technological Knowledge Locked.]
[Redo: 3.]
[Days Left: 13 months (391days)]
…
It took him a few seconds to process everything that had happened.
The moment he called down and unintentionally glanced at his status window, Marcus finally realized what it was that he had lost.
Lifespan.
Realization dawned on him.
What in the world did I just do? Nine years of lifespan erased!
This was something that he truly lacked, and yet, he had achieved nine years only to lose it.
Marcus knew that his breakthrough into Physical Path was the reason why his lifespan increased.
And yet, just because he saw something in the sky… his thoughts tried conjuring the image he saw and his lifespan was reduced by seven days.
Chills spread around him as Marcus quickly forced himself to forget… to think about something else.
Think about something else! Something else. Yes, those humanoids… if I'm not mistaken, they were Spirits. Long dead and forgotten.
He could tell this much because his perception was different.
Five Elements to one, one to a domain. He thought.
To see too much might not be a good thing.
Because he had started practicing the Five Elements Arts, Marcus was quick to find his mistake.
Firstly, one does not cultivate the art by pulling all five elements into their Heart Pulse.
It begins by sensing an element one feels connected to. If there's no connection, then this art cannot be cultivated.
The Aspect cannot be seen without the connection.
Most would pick one element to open the Heart Pulse with, and very few could do so with two.
However, because of his Mind's Eyes, Marcus was able to see it. Rather than pulling on a thread he was connected to, he pulled the threads he was looking for.
The spirits didn't appear because Marcus was practicing this ancient art, no, it was because he touched upon something that went even further back than the era in which the art was created.
However, he didn't know this.
Those damn Spirits, if they didn't appear, I wouldn't have lost nine whole years of my life!
He cursed, refusing to take all the blame for his loss.
Marcus tried standing up. He just used as much strength as he would have normally done.
But this time, he found himself, several feet in the air.
"Huh!"