Chapter 73: Chapter 73: Elemental Spirit Seed

“Master Dyne!” Vahn reached Dyne and was about to attack the Zenoir.

“No need, Vahn! That Zenoir has been petrified! Pull Lord Dyne out of the bottom! I can’t see why he’s in pain!” Meta urged immediately.

Tetsu also heard Meta’s warning and pulled Dyne out.

Dyne was screaming and throwing himself around.

“What’s wrong?!” Tetsu asked.

“Calamity!” Dyne ignored them and shouted for Calamity, who was the only one who could save him.

Calamity immediately swallowed Dyne and spat him out. He didn’t have even a single black smudge on his body.

“Hah… Hah…” Dyne was panting as he laid on the ground.

“What happened?” Tetsu asked again.

“I hate black icky stuff!” Dyne shouted. It was only when Dyne woke up and saw the slimy, icky, black goo around him that he realized he had a strange fear of it. Ordinary slimy objects did not phase Dyne. But when it was black and dirty, Dyne would cringe.

“…”

“…”

The group looked at Dyne with a confused look.

“But… but… are you alright?” Tetsu asked again.

“Yeah. Never better. I kinda did something amazing, I guess.” Dyne smiled.

“But… I’m too weak. You guys have to carry me out of here.” Dyne explained.

“Alright.”

“Dyne! Bring that Zenoir with you!” Strafe suddenly spoke.

“Hrm? Why?”

“Take a look at Grim. That Zenoir should be in a similar state.” Strafe explained.

Dyne immediately reached out, and Grim bowed its head towards Dyne’s hand.

As the two touched, Dyne could feel the presence of Grim…

“Erm… Meta? What’s up with Grim?”

It was then that Meta realized Grim’s element.

“He has the element of Light!”

“Oh. So that’s what it is…” Dyne nodded.

“What happened here, Lord Dyne?”

“It’s kind of difficult to explain. I don’t even know what happened. I’ll have to ask Tieg. For now, carry me back to the village. I’ll have Calamity carry that Zenoir. He should have a similar element.”

“Ask Tieg?” Meta wondered.

Dyne closed his eyes and pretended to pray.

The group looked for a few seconds, but then Calamity had already rushed down the Zenoir and lifted the petrified body and began to move.

Seeing that, Tetsu had no choice but immediately carried Dyne and began to move.

Dyne was curious and began to use his soul to explore the many changes in his body.

Dyne had long noticed the organ just below his navel area that housed a large amount of energy. He knew this was where the energy he absorbed, which was his experience, was. But now, it was more stable. At first, Dyne could feel the energy course through that area, but now, he could sense that it was now more than a simple storage place.

Dyne sent his soul into that area, and it was as if his consciousness fell into a vast plain full of white mist.

“What exactly is this?” Dyne glanced around.

“This is your Force Foundation Palace. Originally, you should have seen this, at least when you awakened your first Genesis Tree. The organ had long been prepared, but there was just not enough energy to create this place. But when I gave you the Holy Element, your disgusting instinctive response was to use that energy and stabilize this place.”

“What’s it for?”

“A lot. Storing of energy, nourishment of the body, providing physical strength, and a fertile ground to plant various sources of energy.”

“Sounds cool.”

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“It is. For one, if you had a nice energy source, your body won’t easily get tired. The physical exhaustion you faced after your epic sprint won’t have happened if you have a secondary source of energy.”

“And you didn’t want me to build this because…?”

“Again… Legaia is for Soul Cultivation. Although it looks like I really have to do something to make this world more challenging for you.”

“More challenging? I almost died!”

“Your first month of cultivation have outlasted a hundred years for some. The way things are going, if I don’t make this game harder, you’d be bored in playing this!”

“Hmmm… Now I don’t want that to happen.”

“Let’s talk about this one step at a time. First is the Force Foundation. Now that you have it, you can house plants, animals, or other high-tiered medicines inside of it. It can provide nourishment for you. It can give you energy so that you won’t need to eat. It can do a lot of things. Basically, you put something inside there that can constantly provide you with energy.”

“But how? Is there such thing that will provide unlimited energy for me?”

“By feeding it a pure form of energy. Life energy. Those things that you’ve been absorbing from Monsters and Seru. That which you call, experience in this game.”

“I thought Life energy was for me to strengthen my body?”

“Yes. But you’ve noticed that you’ve had level caps, right? When I made your body, I already created the organ, which now acts as your Force Foundation. It’s what the Chinese call Dantian. And to help you breach the level caps, I planned to use the Genesis Tree. But of course, it won’t be enough to make you worthy of physically being called a Martial artist.” Strafe laughed.

“Physically?”

“Let’s talk about that later. Let's move on to another point of interest. The Elemental Spirit Seed and the Heart of Brimstone. You must have sensed it in your heart.”

Dyne’s eyebrows crossed as he was praying. He moved his soul towards his heart and could find a small seed. It had a bright yellow and red shade and continued to release powerful heat.

“Brimstone.” Dyne noticed the energy. The strange things that Dyne found made him curious. In the state of his meditation, he could only allow his instincts to take over.

“Notice your heart! It isn’t made of flesh.”

“Woah. What happened?”

“There are… two things… If an Elemental Spirit Seed successfully merges with the heart, it will somehow radiate the energy to the heart. I was aiming to do that! Creating a Heart of Brimstone.”

“Ok… So I now have a heart of Brimstone?”

“No. Even better. Normally, it takes time to perfect this. If the heart now is made up of at least twenty to thirty percent and maxes out to fifty-five percent of that element, it becomes this Heart of Element. On your case, A Heart of Brimstone. There are many others. A Heart of Fire, Water, Ice, and whatever element usually transform the organ into a living element. But when it exceeds fifty-five percent, they become an Element Heart! In your case, Brimstone Heart!”

“That’s a very confusing naming scheme.”

“I know. But that’s what they called it in my world.”

“Then, the black icky stuff was caused by the formation of my heart?

“Yes! That is the cause of that nasty black stuff earlier. Your body was expelling the impurities in your body. Specifically, your heart!”

“That was a thick layer of black goo. Moreover, they felt as if they were the opposite of that holy power you sent in me. Was it Death Energy?”

“Close. Remember when I told you that life has to be in death and death in life? The cycle of this yin yang which creates life? Cultivators try to fight the heavens and escape death. Our bodies, mind, and our soul all have Death Energy. Your entire body, parts of your mind are made up of Death Energy.”

“So you mean, I converted the death energy in my heart and began to expel the waste?”

“It’s great, you understand. That’s the simplified explanation. But right now, it’s just your heart. The Ra-Serus were supposed to help you transform your body. Remember how Vahn’s Ra-Seru in the game slowly grows and covers Dyne’s hand?”

“Right.”

“They are training wheels that I used in this world to prepare you for cultivation. For Vahn, he would have an Arm of Fire. And when he awakens at least five Genesis Trees, it becomes a Fire Arm. Soul Cultivators slowly transform their body into an element of choice! They use various magic sources, artifacts, and stuff to reform their body. For Vahn, if he wants to complete his Elemental body, he has to find other means to change his legs and his left arm! But you, you started at the best possible place, your body! The heart!”

“How would it be different?”

“Because it’s the heart! Not even I started with the heart! You see, for Vahn, his transformation will be limited because it is from their hands. And starting with the heart is very dangerous! Unless your heart is made of materials that can withstand the transformation and not get burnt, they will die! People start with extremities and slowly increase their body's resistance through it. But you started with your heart!”

“So why didn’t my heart burn?”

“Because you’re a freak! No one starts their bodily transformation with the heart! And nobody uses Soul Cultivation to achieve it! People use external objects, medicines, and artifacts to absorb them slowly! But you! You! You just crafted your Elemental Spirit Seed way ahead of schedule! People use their bodily transformation so that they can withstand the pressure when crafting an Elemental Spirit Seed. But you’re soul was too in-synch with each other. It didn’t even harm your heart!”

“Hey! It hurt, you know! I felt this thingly heartburn throughout the process. It was very uncomfortable!”

“HEARTBURN?! UNCOMFORTABLE?!” Strafe was so mad. It didn’t matter that it would cost him two days. He sent a powerful spirit blast towards Dyne.

Tetsu was shocked as Dyne was suddenly struck and sent flying by an invisible force.

“MASTER DYNE!” The group shouted.