Chapter Seventeen: Lista

“Whoosh—”

The moment they stepped into the geothermal trial chamber, a blast of searing heat hit them, prompting uncomfortable sounds from the group of trainees. Loran frowned slightly, kept his sword raised, and pressed on. Looking up, he saw the interior was unusually vast. It had likely been a huge cavern beneath a castle, now transformed into a geothermal space. The floor was paved with square tiles about a meter long, their seams forming a lattice of lines that stretched off into the distant depths.

Instructor Haimu walked steadily at the back of the group and said in a deep voice, “Inside the geothermal trial room you can come into closer contact with the power of the fire element, and the high temperatures here will temper your body and will. Today’s lesson is to endure in the geothermal trial room until sunset. Keep at it—may the light guide you!”

The trainees scattered. Aivelle, Caroline, and the other girls gathered in a corner of the chamber. Not long after entering, many trainees were already drenched in sweat, and the girls were no different; their clothing soaked through, their body lines soon becoming plainly visible. Before long, due to the demands of training, they might not even be able to keep their clothes on.

Instructor Haimu slowly sat down in the center of the trial chamber, resting his broad sword across his lap as flames of stellar-origin energy swirled around him; with his cultivation level, he no longer cared about that geothermal heat.

…

“Rustle…”

Loran carried his longsword, walked to the southeast corner of the geothermal trial chamber, then set the sword and water skin beside him, sat cross-legged, and—just as Instructor Haimu had said—the pressure and geothermal torment he endured were far greater than everyone else’s. Other trainees could summon Star Source energy to resist it, but Loran could only rely on his body and willpower to withstand the intense heat here.

In just a few minutes, sweat streamed down, quickly soaking her clothes.

Loran frowned, unbuttoned her shirt and neatly set it aside, then closed her eyes, letting the sweat fall like rain, surrendering herself to sensing the tempestuous fire element in the geothermal trial chamber with complete relaxation. But it wasn’t easy. During the first hour, Loran only felt scorching heat and the massive evaporation of her body’s moisture.

In the second hour, after replenishing a whole bag of water, finally—amid the continual steaming of sweat—she felt clusters of extremely tiny fiery energies become active on the surface of her skin. The sensation grew clearer and clearer until, at last, she realized these flame elements had begun to burn her skin.

“Ah…”

He gave a soft exhale, hurriedly opened his eyes, wiped the sweat that had nearly blurred his vision, and looked closely at his left arm. Sure enough, the burned area was an angry red—his skin’s defensive response at work—but it faded after a short while. The fire elementals had really existed; it was just that they hadn’t yet bonded closely with him.

Sitting down again, Lolan took a deep breath and immersed himself wholeheartedly in his comprehension of the fire element. By the fifth hour, although his eyes were closed, he still seemed to see an entire expanse densely packed with crimson all around the space. Looking up, he could sense the fierce agitation of fire element sprites in the air; they kept releasing energy, continuously rising and falling, and repeatedly perishing and being reborn. These fire-element sprites seemed extremely frenzied and full of instability.

At this moment, Loran was nearly certain that he could sense the fire elemental spirit.

But he wasn’t in a hurry to grasp or control those fire elementals; there was no need. On the contrary, he deliberately tried to forget the existence of the fire elementals and instead sought to perceive the very rare wind elementals within that space. Because it was an enclosed area with almost no air circulation, the geothermal trial chamber lacked even the slightest breeze. Yet Teacher Aierke had once said that elemental power is everywhere—only its density varies.

So, inside this trial chamber filled with fire-element spirits, if Loran could sense and master the power of the wind element, it would be of immense benefit to his cultivation of wind-element laws. He was convinced of this, and Master Aierke had once said the same: the more hostile the environment in which you perceive an element’s power, the stronger the affinity and controllability you can attain.

…

Two hours later.

Loran’s long eyelashes trembled several times. He sensed that in the scorching space, besides the irritable fire element sprites, there was a faint rhythm in the air — the wind elemental force, which was extremely scarce in this space, had finally found them. So Loran gently opened his palm and used telekinesis to communicate with these wind element sprites, gaining their trust and gradually bonding with them.

“Hisss~~~”

Thin, almost invisible white vortices appeared on Loran’s fingertips. Although these wind element sprites were few, they responded to Loran’s call; as if having found a new master, they brimmed with joy. Loran took a deep breath, grabbed the steel sword beside him with one hand, and the wind element sprites instantly rushed along the hilt into the blade. In the blink of an eye, the surface of the steel sword seemed to be coated with a shimmering silver-blue glow.

That was the wind element’s power surge!

At this moment, Loran was ecstatic beyond measure, never having felt anything like it before. This was the result of perfectly melding the wind element with his weapon. He waved the steel sword with one hand; Loran now had no doubt about the sword’s destructive power. It could be said that only now had Loran truly mastered the law-like force of the Storm Slash, and the stroke he unleashed would contain a considerable amount of Storm Slash power.

“Huh…”

He took a deep breath, summoned all his strength, his muscles tensing, and with concentrated focus he strove to sense more wind-element spirits, fusing them into the blade so that the silver sheen on the steel sword grew stronger and stronger, gradually turning whitish—intensely so!

Finally, after a long time, Loran’s telekinetic control could no longer hold the immense power of the wind elemental spirit. In a sudden moment of slackening, the silver coating on the steel sword vanished in an instant, the wind elemental energies all swept into the surrounding space, and Loran let out a long, weary sigh, almost exhausted.

At this time, he had to work harder than the other students to cultivate elemental power, because those with Starlight Source could directly perceive elemental forces and convert their Starlight into elemental energy. Their bodies were like an ever-flowing spring—so long as they had enough stamina, Starlight was inexhaustible. Loran was different; he hadn’t even awakened a star vein. His body was like a dry well, forced to draw elemental energy from the outside and use it, fundamentally different in nature.

…

Just then, at the moment when Loran was mentally most relaxed, a cold flash suddenly came from the rear side — it was a steel sword wrapped in a faint tempestuous gleam thrust toward him.

Loran’s body hair stood on end almost in an instant; the wind element sprites in the surrounding air grew agitated, and thanks to his recent rapid progress in training, Loran’s sensitivity to the rhythm of the wind had sharpened. Almost before the sound of the breaking wind reached him, he had already reacted: his body dropped, and he rolled several meters along the scorching stone floor.

“Clang—”

Sparks flew. A trainee from the Blood Cage swung a steel sword at the spot where Loran had been half a second earlier. The Storm Slash cleaved through the rock, slicing off half a flagstone as if it were butter. The cut was eerily smooth — the opponent’s mastery of the Storm Slash was clearly no amateurish level.

Loran looked up and saw a familiar face. He couldn’t help but say coldly, “Rista?”

Lista, a taciturn trainee in the class, usually scored around the lower-middle in assessments. Rumor had it he was also the son of commoners. He never spoke during training, so Loran could never have imagined that Lista—who had never uttered a single word to him—would suddenly strike, even attempting to kill him!

“Die!”

Lista let out a low shout, explosive Starforce surging through his body. He wrenched the blade free, leapt up, and swept past like a great roc spreading its wings. The blade slashed downward, aiming straight for Loran’s throat.

In a flash, every muscle in Loran’s body tensed; almost by reflex he sprang to the right. With a hiss, searing pain lanced through his calf—Lista’s blade had opened a gash there. But in the next instant Loran moved with the agility of a monkey, vaulting to the base of the rock wall, snatching up his steel sword. His gaze turned icy as he quickly summoned the surrounding wind-element power. A faint silver sheen coated the edge of his blade—another Tempest Slash!

“Hmph!”

Lista snorted coldly, bellowed, and in a rush of movement appeared before Loran. The blade, wrapped in wind-element power transformed from Star Source energy, sliced in a storming strike aimed at the top of Loran’s head.

This time, Loran did not retreat; he also wanted to know if his cultivation had succeeded, and he unleashed an identical sword strike!

“Whoom—”

Sparks flew. The instant the two swords met it was as if two storms had collided, producing a piercing sound; only half a second later came the metallic chime of blades striking. With a “whoom,” a fierce gust exploded between them, knocking Loran breathless and sending him crashing into the wall behind him.

Rista was also shaken back several paces. After barely regaining his footing, his face twisted with incredulous hatred. Raising his sword, he shouted through clenched teeth, “You must die!”

…

“Bang!”

With a soft crack, a strong finger dug hard into Lista’s shoulder blade, pinning him immobile, and then Instructor Haimu’s voice came from behind: “Lista, are you trying to get yourself killed?!”