Exile sighed and sat in his chair by his desk as Mikari left the room. I should check out Amari’s tome while I wait for word about the store. The thick black book that Amari had given appeared in his hands. The title was written in swirling handwriting with silver ink.
‘An Idiot’s Guide to Godly Power by Amari, God of Chaos.’ Exile frowned as he read the title. As he opened the cover, he found the first few pages were dedicated to Amari recounting the many deeds he found worthy of being written down. Exile decided to skip that part and look it over later to prepare for his next meeting with that will.
‘Fundamentals of a True God.’ Exile smiled as he read the title of the first chapter. ‘This might answer some questions as to why I’m struggling to express real Tier 2 power in my runes and spells!’ Exile began to read the chapter’s content.
‘So, you’ve become what we call a True God, have you? Congratulations on that! But take a moment to think. What you learned about being a god? Nothing. That’s what! I guarantee it! But don’t worry, since help is at hand! Let Papa Amari guide you through what you’ve been doing wrong all this time, eh?’ Exile grimaced at the first paragraph as he cursed Amari for his writing style.
‘Ok, so until now, you’ve relied on divine spells that popped into your head out of nowhere. Right? Well, that was your first mistake! Because right about now, you’ll be wondering why you haven’t had an epiphany about any new ones for a while. That’s because you won’t just know them anymore! That’s right, you heard me! From here on out you’ll have to come up with them on your own!’
‘Which you could have done the moment you came into existence. But, you took the easy way. The path that hinders your mindset and smothers your potential. Don’t worry, for we will rectify that! Oh, and if you’ve somehow created a spell, you can skip to page four.’
Exile felt his jaw hurting from clenching it as he turned to page four. ‘Ok, so now that you’ve created at least one spell, you’ll notice it feels lacking. That’s because you’ve only used pure divine power to create it. Are you an idiot? Why didn’t you think to infuse it with the divine element in your body? Bah, whatever. Ok, so what you need to do first is this…’
Exile carefully read the next two pages that described how to feel the element in his body. He had to learn to sense and circulate it until it became second nature to him. ‘This should be what Amari did to force me to feel the darkness element.’ Exile frowned as his attention went to his chest, where he could feel the presence of that element.
‘Now, I need to do the same thing by myself for the fire element.’ Exile groaned as he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. He struggled to summon a strong enough image of a burning sphere where his heart should be. As time passed, and he continued to fail in feeling that element, he decided to change his approach.
‘Amari already unlocked my ability to feel the dark element. Maybe by focusing on that, I can learn what I’m doing wrong.’ Exile then focused on the heavy dark liquid feeling in his chest. ‘The book said I have to circulate it as Amari did.’
His focus went on imagining it flowing through his body like a stream. However, although he felt it budge, it barely moved. ‘Maybe I should try a smaller amount.’ A tiny droplet of the darkness separated from the rest of it and ever so slowly moved down his left arm.
‘This is strange. It feels heavy as if it wants to swallow my consciousness.’ A deep-set frown appeared on Exile’s face as he fought back against that influence. His mind darkened as he imagined the world without light and how much better it would be. ‘Damn! It’s influencing my thoughts!’ Exile cursed as his thoughts felt cold and void of emotion.
‘No!’ He remembered sitting around a fire when he was younger. The warmth it gave off as it fought off the chill of the night. How the embers would float against the darkness and illuminate their surroundings. ．
A tiny spark appeared next to the dark liquid in his chest. It grew in intensity until it became a raging inferno of an orb! Exile felt the influence of the darkness easing as he lost himself in his memories. He carefully urged the droplet of darkness to rejoin the rest of it. As he removed his control over it, the flaming orb split to surround the darkness.
Exile took a few deep breaths to calm himself before he moved his attention to the fire element. ‘I see. It feels light, and if it wants to consume something to burn.’ Exile felt complex emotions surrounding that element as he let out a sigh. ‘It’s no wonder I couldn’t spark it myself without some kind of threat. Amari’s book wasn’t exactly clear.’
Now that he could sense the fire element that had always been there, he felt a deep connection with it. He discovered it was easier to make it circulate around his body than the darkness element. ‘Well, this is a good start. I’ll need to practice until I do it without thinking.’
He returned his attention to the book to discover the next step. ‘You should practice using your element to create your spells now. A few words of warning. The greater the range of your spell, the higher the cost will be to use it. For now, you should focus on creating spells that activate when you touch your enemy to reduce the cost. Of course, you can choose to use more power to increase the damage it’s capable of.’
Exile nodded as he read that. ‘So I was missing something. To think this is the secret to unlocking more power at Tier 2. How long would it have taken to discover this on my own?’ Exile groaned at the thought before spotting an interesting passage title.
‘The Thirty-Six Elements and You.’ Exile frowned as he read that. ‘There’re only six elements. What’s he talking about?’ Exile was helpless as his curiosity was piqued. He felt compelled to read the passage.
‘Oh, so you think you’re ready for this? Then you must have created quite a few true elemental spells by now. If you haven’t, then do not attempt this! You’re still here? Ok then, you should be aware of the six core elements. But did you know that by combining two of them in different ratios you can gain access to a new one?’
‘Let’s take me for example. My first element was Air. I unlocked access to the dark when I became a true god. Now, I discovered that by mixing the two elements in my body and creating a spell from it I gained access to the Plague classification of Divine Magic! Now, it must be said, my Air element took up sixty per cent of the base element for the spell with the darkness taking up the rest. It becomes unstable after that and will likely hurt you.’
‘Once I became a Calamity God, I was able to keep it stable to a fifty-fifty ratio. Guess what happened! That’s right! I became able to wield Chaos! Now, Chaos is a strange thing. The darkness causes a random reaction in the air element which contains traces of all the others. So I can never predict what elemental spell it will create! In my studies of this element, I discovered it could even generate the light element mixed with another element I had no access to!’
‘In the end, I discovered there are, in fact, thirty-six elements that can be achieved through various fusions. These higher elements display properties impossible to achieve with pure elements. So I suggest you start this practice as soon as you are competent in creating spells with a single element. It will unlock hidden Authorities of greater power as you continue your journey.’
‘A note of interest is that most gods in the higher ranks display the use of a maximum of three elements. Two Pure Elements and one Divine Element. (Pure Elements being Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. The divine being Light, and Dark.) However, there are exceptions. Such as myself where I can use every element but have no control over those outside of my three (Air, Earth, and Dark). And I have heard rumours of a god who can wield two pure elements and both divine ones.’
‘I can not speculate on how they achieved this as Light and Dark naturally reject each other. As your power increases so will your disposition toward one or the other. Eventually, one of them will make it impossible to use the other. Now, you should put this book away and practice. The rest of the pages will remain blank to you until you reach a higher stage. Good luck, and I hope this guide has helped to make you less of an idiot.’
Exile sighed as he shook his head while checking the rest of the pages. Amari was true to his word, and they were all blank. ‘At least he’s given me a starting point. These higher elements he spoke of sounds interesting. That should be why his dark world had such strange and conflicting sights.’
A knock came at Exile’s door as Mikari’s familiar voice called out to him. ‘The event store has appeared.’