Path of Dragons

Controlling the ethera in his body was no easy feat, but everything leading up to that moment had prepared Elijah for it. That was part of the reason core cultivation became easier when the other aspects of cultivation had already reached that next level. Making those leaps had forced him to understand ethera in a way that, otherwise, never would have been possible.

It had also driven him to develop his willpower. Despite that not being a verifiable or trackable ability, it was one of the primary determinants of success in cultivation. Going through the motions would get a person only so far before sheer pain tolerance and the will to keep going became important.

Even so, when Elijah sank within himself and began the final step required to push his core to the next tier, he found that the task was much more difficult than he ever could have imagined. At first, he felt like he was shoving against a mountain, for all the good it did. As he acclimated to the strain, he saw some progress, but he likened it to the effects of erosion. Sure, the wind couldn’t actually move a mountain on its own. Not all at once, at least. But it could wear it down, one grain of sand at a time, and eons later, the mountain would be gone. Or rendered unrecognizable.

That was Elijah’s task, though the first mechanism of his labor was a familiar one.

The final step of cultivation began much like his previous efforts with cycling. He once again bent his will toward drawing in as much ethera as his core could handle, packing it tightly, then pulling even more in. He endured it stoically, having acclimated himself to that level of strain. Still, he kept pushing himself until he’d far exceeded his previous efforts.

The few hours it had taken for his core to completely heal had done wonders for its malleability, and though he knew he couldn’t get much more out of continued cycling, he took the time to do just that. One cycle after another, he pushed himself to his absolute limits.

Then, on what would become the final cycle, he shoved an unprecedented amount of ethera into his bloated core. It strained against the confines of his spirit, but he continued to push until, at last, he remembered Nerthus’ caution against letting his hubris take over.

But he still kept going.

Not because he didn’t trust his friend. Rather, because he’d chosen to trust himself. He knew he could go further. He knew he could do more. And in the back of his mind, he sensed that if he didn’t, he would one day regret it. However, more than anything else, he recognized that there was no way to reach the top without braving the dangers of overreach.

Pain blossomed within him as he kept going. Tears formed and were washed away by the salty water of the underwater cave, and the ethera all around him swirled with unprecedented power.

Yet, he refused to stop.

Over and over, he continued to reach further. To push harder. He kept going until, at last, he was satisfied that even a single drop more of ethera would cause a massive explosion that would, in turn, rip him to pieces.

And that was just the first step.

He still had one more to go, and it would doubtless prove much more difficult to endure.

Once his core had been saturated, Elijah leveraged his willpower in a different direction. It was a little like flexing a muscle, but instead of that effort being represented on a physical level, it was a spiritual strain. His visualization exercises helped, and he imagined the energy in his core swirling like a typhoon. In a distracted moment, he realized that he’d based it on the persistent, seaborne storm he’d only briefly touched what felt like a lifetime ago. And rightly so – it was a force of nature so powerful that he couldn’t hope to endure its effects. If anything could move the densely packed ethera in his core, it could.

Still, even with the storm raging within him, that nearly solid ball of energy refused to budge. He pushed even harder, fanning the proverbial flames with every ounce of willpower he could muster. If he could have spared even a little of his concentration, he might have screamed with the effort, but as it was, his entire body hung limp and unused. The battle was not a physical one. Rather, it was entirely spiritual.

Thankfully, Elijah’s efforts had prepared him well for such a task. Even in the face of failure – and he did fail to get it moving – he kept going. Part of that came from his previous experiences with cultivation. None of it was easy, and yet, he’d continuously risen to the task. Some of it was the result of his attunement, which helped provide perspective as well as comfort.

However, more than anything else, it came from the fact that he had stared death in the eye, and on multiple occasions, chose to keep going. He had persisted through terminal cancer. He had survived being stranded alone on a deserted island, with no food, water, or shelter. He had been so grievously injured that, even with his healing abilities, he’d been left irreparably scarred. He had been burned and digested, ripped in half and paralyzed.

And yet, he’d always kept going.

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Compared to that, what was moving a little energy?

Willpower was like any other muscle, he’d found. The more it was exercised, the stronger it became. And he’d pushed his will to its limit so many times that he’d lost count.

With the weight of those efforts behind him, Elijah finally managed to move the ethera in his core. It was only a metaphorical millimeter, but just getting it started was half the battle. Not only did it create a little momentum, but the proof that he could do it, that he could be successful, gave him the motivation he needed to reach deep down and find those tiny vestiges of willpower that had, so far, remained unused.

A millimeter became an inch, and that inch became a foot. Gradually, he pushed the ethera in his core to its first revolution. That spurred him on. Faster and faster, it spun. One revolution turned into two as it continued to pick up speed. He willed it to spin faster and faster until he could scarcely track it.

But he couldn’t stop there.

With the weight of his will shoving against it, he forced it to swirl so quickly that it began to scour the calloused bounds of his core. Layer by layer, it dissipated, and Elijah felt more than a little panic. He knew that was what was supposed to happen, but he also knew that if he screwed it up – even a little – he would probably kill himself.

Because cultivation was not without danger, especially now that so much energy was involved. He’d learned that lesson well enough when pushing to the Student tier of his Soul cultivation. Yet, he also knew that life in his new reality was built on balancing danger and progress. The higher one was, the more potent the potential rewards.

So, even as his fear spiked, Elijah continued, and the storm of ethera within him scraped away one layer of his core wall after another. With every passing second, the power of the energy inside of him climbed.

Elijah had no context for just how strong the surging ethera was, but he knew it was far more powerful than anything he’d ever experienced. It was like having a reactor inside of him, and his task was to push it as far as he could before it melted down.

That was what he did until, at last, the walls of his core were completely ripped apart. The energy within him should have gone wild. Elijah had expected as much. However, the swirling power of the storm of ethera was so intense that it remained contained. Moreover, it created a whirlpool that pulled all of the energy within the cave inside of him. It was like a black hole, and he was at its center.

Ethera rushed into him, subjected to an inexorable pull that piled more and more energy into what had once been his core.

For a moment, Elijah was entirely overwhelmed by it, and that brief bout of uncertainty was almost enough to rip him apart. However, he quickly clamped down on it, and, following the directions he’d read in his guides, he squeezed.

More and more ethera packed into that small space, but Elijah barely managed to keep it contained within him. It swirled, faster and faster until, at last, he felt it begin to contract. Partially, that was due to his efforts, but mostly, it was because of the singularity the whirlpool of ethera had created.

It folded in on itself, little by little, until it had returned to its normal size. Then, it shrank even smaller. The energy inside of it was hundreds of times more potent than it had been before, but because of the increased density, it took up far less space.

Just as the whirlpool began to ebb, Elijah gave it another nudge. His willpower had been well taxed, but he had plenty to spare. And one step would not take him where he wanted to go. He intended to climb the entire stairway.

So, he continued to push it faster and faster, and eventually, the process repeated itself. When it slowed, the core had grown ever so slightly, but with how densely the ethera had been packed into it, it was exponentially more powerful.

Still, he had a long way to go. Without hesitation, he repeated the process a third time. That was when his store of willpower began to dip, but Elijah knew he had enough to keep going. So, he continued for a fourth step. Then a fifth. Six. Seventh. On and on he went until he lost count somewhere between fifty and a hundred.

By that point, any willpower he’d possessed had been wholly spent. He was just going on momentum. But he had just enough to clamp down a final time, compressing the results a little more before it finally came to a stop.

For a moment, the world lay still. The water no longer moved, and the ambient ethera was entirely gone. Not a drop remained.

Then, suddenly, Elijah’s core erupted like a miniature sun. He felt like his entire body was on fire, even though he knew it was only the sheer power of the ethera within him. If he’d tried to advance his core before upgrading his Body cultivation, he would have died, then and there.

But as well prepared as he was, he survived.

Even though he tried to hold on to his consciousness for as long as possible, he could not stave off the blackness for more than a couple of seconds.

For a few subjective seconds, he hung suspended in darkness. None of his senses functioned, but he could feel something all around him. Tiny tendrils of ethera, far too minute to fully perceive, enveloped him. They wrapped around him in a dense cocoon before, suddenly, he was yanked back into consciousness.

He fell, his naked body slapping against a familiar set of tiles. When he looked up, he saw another expected sight.

“Kirlissa,” he muttered, studying his patron. She looked the same as always – hair of gold, scales around her eyes and running down her neck, and a beauty so potent that he could scarcely comprehend it – but in addition to those familiar characteristics, he saw a web of ethera extending from her body and stretching as far as he could perceive.

“You have come a long way,” she said, and those threads suddenly disappeared. “Most at your level fail to see those.”

“Am I back in the Empire of Scale?”

“You are, and I suspect you already know what is coming,” she said, extending her hand. He took it, nearly flinching away when their skin touched. A surge of ethera passed into his fingertips, infusing him with an intoxicating degree of power. It was both invigorating and disorienting. It passed after only a moment, and he let her help him to his feet.

“Another vision.”

“If that is what you wish to call it,” the dragon agreed. “In reality, it is a memory made real. Do not dismiss it as inconsequential. The dangers within are valid.”

“I can die?”

“Of course. It would not be effective otherwise. Now, go, my child. Understanding awaits.”

Elijah nodded, and the second he agreed, he once again blacked out. It lasted less than a second, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a landscape that struck him with awe.

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