Chapter 419:Impossible

Chapter 419: 419:Impossible

By the seventh day, a considerable section of the forest around his temporary camp had suffered because of his frustration.

He stood in the middle of a clearing surrounded by severed trees. His bow remained raised as wind circled him.

Several arrows were suspended in the air ahead, each surrounded by compressed Wind Aether strong enough to punch through the defenses of most SSS-ranked creatures.

He released his fingers and the arrows disappeared.

A series of explosions followed.

Three trees were penetrated completely before the arrows curved through the forest, changing directions under Atheline’s control and striking several stone targets he’d positioned earlier.

He lowered the bow and waited but nothing happened.

Atheline stared at the destruction in complete frustration.

"Wonderful."

A bird somewhere above him chirped.

"I know."

Another chirp.

"You’re welcome to try."

The bird flew away.

He sighed to himself. Everything seemed to be against him or something was wrong with his brain.

He’d tried increasing power, nothing. He’d tried reducing power until his Wind Aether was barely detectable, nothing. He’d created tornadoes, compressed blades, barriers, movement techniques and arrows, nothing.

He’d even spent almost an entire day sitting on a cliff attempting to imitate the meditation Lilith had described. The result had been an excellent nap.

Atheline returned to his camp.

He’d deliberately established it much deeper in the Forbidden Forest than anyone sensible would have recommended.

The first several regions were too weak to provide meaningful resistance anymore. Most beasts there fled the moment they sensed his Peak Mystic aura.

Here, things were different.

SSS-ranked creatures were common enough that Atheline encountered them every few days. Some possessed unusual elemental abilities while others had lived long enough to develop frightening intelligence.

There were also regions farther ahead that his Spatial Sense and instincts warned him not to enter casually.

Atheline liked that; danger forced him to remain attentive. It also prevented his training from becoming comfortable.

He sat beside a small fire and pulled out the communication crystal Lilith had given him and directed his aether into it.

It activated almost immediately.

Her face appeared.

"You look terrible."

He rolled his eyes.

"Hello to you too."

"How is training?"

"I’ve discovered that I’m extremely good at Wind magic."

Lilith waited for him to continue.

"I already knew that."

"Exactly. That’s the problem."

She smiled.

"No progress?"

"None."

Atheline leaned backward against a tree.

"I can manipulate wind hundreds of different ways. I can compress it, change its direction, use it to increase my speed, alter an arrow’s trajectory, create vacuums, detect movement through disturbances in the air and probably destroy a considerable portion of this forest if I become sufficiently irresponsible."

"You’ve always been sufficiently irresponsible."

"Thank you."

"But?"

He looked toward the trees.

"I don’t understand it."

Lilith became serious.

He continued.

"I understand how to use it. That’s different."

"Now you’re beginning to understand what I meant."

"Unfortunately."

Lilith rested her chin against one hand.

"When the ruin took away my darkness, I realized how much of what I thought was understanding was actually familiarity. I’d used shadows for so long that everything felt natural."

He nodded.

"That’s exactly what Wind feels like."

"Then stop using it."

He frowned.

"What?"

"Stop."

"For how long?"

"Until you notice what you’ve been ignoring."

Atheline stared blankly at her.

"That’s annoyingly vague."

"The ruin wasn’t particularly helpful either."

"Perhaps that’s where you learned it."

Lilith smiled.

They spoke for another half hour before ending the communication.

The next morning, Atheline sealed his Wind Aether. He hated the decision within three hours.

Without using wind to increase his movement, navigating the deeper forest became noticeably slower. He couldn’t use the disturbances in the air to extend his perception. He couldn’t casually propel himself over obstacles or manipulate arrows after releasing them.

For the first time in years, he became painfully aware of how dependent he’d become on his primary element.

So he walked, climbed, anf listened. Eventually he started noticing things.

Wind was everywhere.

That sounded embarrassingly obvious but Atheline had never really considered what that meant.

It moved through the branches without asking permission. It slipped between leaves. It passed around mountains when it couldn’t pass through them.

It entered cracks in stone. It crossed oceans. It carried seeds, clouds, scents, even sound.

Sometimes it was gentle enough that the smallest leaf barely moved. Sometimes it uprooted entire trees.

Yet wind itself never seemed concerned with what shape it needed to take.

Atheline spent days simply moving through the forest without using it. Then the Forbidden Forest reminded him that philosophical contemplation didn’t exempt him from being attacked.

The beast emerged from above.

He sensed it a fraction too late. He rolled before claws struck the ground where his head had been.

The creature resembled a massive black panther, except two long tails extended behind it and translucent membranes connected portions of its limbs.

Atheline immediately recognized the adaptation.

Aerial movement.

The panther jumped and the membranes caught the wind, its direction changing in midair.

He drew his sword in defense: metal met claw. The impact pushed him backward.

"SSS."

The panther vanished into the trees.

Atheline didn’t reactivate Wind; that became the challenge. He fought using his body, sword and occasionally Earth Aether for defense.

The panther attacked repeatedly. Every time it jumped, it used the surrounding air to change direction. Its body simply understood how to move with what already existed without the need for elemental manipulation.

Atheline began watching.

The creature wasn’t controlling wind, it was accepting it, using whatever direction existed. It was changing itself rather than demanding that the environment change first.

The realization remained with Atheline long after he killed the beast.

Two weeks passed, then three.

His camp moved repeatedly as he traveled deeper. He fought dozens of creatures along the way.

A giant serpent capable of manipulating earth. A colony of poisonous insects that forced him to abandon an entire valley. A massive bear with skin harder than metal.

Several corrupted creatures that had wandered unusually deep into the forest.

Those concerned him.

The corruption was spreading farther than previous reports suggested. Atheline marked every location and sent them back to Lilith but he didn’t leave, not yet.

By the twenty-fourth day, he returned to Wind and this time, he didn’t summon it.