Elements are easy

John stood victoriously as he had gotten to resist the power of such a high tier cultivator and he also comprehended a law. The woman on the top of the tower then retracted her hand and smiled faintly as she began her speech.

"All who have gathered here will be graded on your talent, law comprehension, and cultivation level as a part of the yearly recruitment and assignment protocol of the young men and women of our empire. There are some slots available for the elite guard this year as well, so strive your hardest to accomplish this goal". After she finished her speech several small pillars and platforms of earth and several precious metals and minerals raised from the ground of the clearing in numerous locations. John noticed that every cultivator in the clearing began to migrate towards these stations which had guards next to them by now.

Not wanting to stand out much more than he already had, John hopped into a line for one of the stations. The line was extremely long and knowing that it would take quite the time to arrive at the front of it even though dozens of people at a time entered John decided to find out some stuff on his new law. Looking inward to his spirit John noticed that the laws had formed into this sphere of his comprehension. John analyzed the mass of laws and noticed that he didn't only have three of tier one laws like he thought, the previous clear orb with a gauntlet had apparently become a more flushed out due to his conflict with the powerful woman and had even ranked up to a tier two law due to the stress and the hopelessness of the situation prior. He focused on it and found that it was a law based off of weapons which allowed for him to not only fuse other laws into his attacks, but he also unlocked an ability called weapon aura which acted as a connection with the world it's self and made a zone of world come under the ownership of the user temporarily and it can block out any laws of the same tier or lower from affecting the user. The cost of such a technique is understandably high, it uses up not only his "breath" but also his mental energy at large quantities per second. He wouldn't be able to use it much, but in a pinch it might help him win the battle.

Returning his focus back to the line ahead of him John had made quite a bit of progress as he only used part of his concentration to focus on his law, while the rest focused on moving him forward when possible. John looked towards the exit point of the structure and saw many of those who entered were distraught and confused, it seemed like their test results weren't what they were looking for.

'Poor fools, I bet that only a fraction of a percent of everyone here will receive a good profession. Or at least one that has any importance'. John wanted to chuckle at their plight, but he remembered that he was in a crowd of people who belonged to an empire that he was trapped in. That made it all the more funny, sadly he couldn't voice it though because he treasured his life.

All John could do now was wait in this line and hopefully he would be endowed with a magnificent profession that would let him leave this god forsaken empire.

A top the tower there was a guard who was at the same tier as the mighty woman, but a lower realm. This man was her advisor and he had worked for her family for decades, he was delegated with the management of internal kingdom affairs. This meant that when ever something went wrong or there was a threat to the well being of the people that he would be informed. Today was such a day, after the guards of the labor camp had searched everywhere they possibly could, they assumed that John must have escaped somehow. The man had a book in which he could send and receive messages and he happened to get one right then.

"Sir, we believe that a prisoner has escaped one of our work camps and might have invaded the selection ceremony. This prisoner has killed over three hundred civilians and at least twenty of of guards, his realm is unknown and he had managed to escape the mine somehow."

John entered the contraption and went through a long tunnel, he arrived at a room with a man seated at a desk. The man quickly told him to stand on a formation as he opened a book on his desk, as soon as John has stood on the formation it lit up and information was sent to the book in the mans hand. The next step was a bit interesting as it required the cultivator to grasp knowledge of a tier one law(not a very powerful law that is weaker than the power of a eighth realm tier one mortal)and then invoke a reaction into the area around them.

The law was pretty simple as it was the tier one version of the basic element manipulation law(the law that encompasses the combination of all the tier zero element laws), the cultivator only had to show a basic comprehension of a tier zero element law to pass this section. John couldn't even imagine how someone could fail this section, in his eyes the only way would be to die during their test.

John wanted to take advantage of the test to get some more laws for free before he got the hell out of the empire he was in, so he asked about how long that they had for this section. The man answered him quickly telling him that he had an hour to produce a result.

John asked if the man could inform him when there was only five minutes left as he later back on the floor. The man thought that John was cocky and that he decided to take a nap in the middle of the test, sadly for him though he was forced to tell everyone taking the test when the time was almost up anyways. The man sighed and waited for John to finish his "nap".

Unaware of the mental cursing that the test administrator was bestowing upon him, John had entered into a similar trance state that he had experience before when he was boosting his elemental affinities. John's mental waves latched onto the aura that the law produced like a clingy child and dragged them into his body and as it broke down the numerous particles he would gain a fraction of comprehension towards the law. He was trying to find a common factor between all of them in a way to acquire the overarching concept, but he was having a hard time doing such a task with such distant and non similar elements.

Having to take a step back mentally from the task at hand caused John to brain storm solutions and he got one in a short timespan. He figured that first he would need to comprehended the low level laws and acquire more background knowledge of the element comprehension law before he would have success in the process. Now that he had sorted his priorities John started with an easy element for him as he already had the superior version of the law. The lightning element, at the tier one equivalent was based on the fact that the user had the required knowledge of the weaker tier zero law to function. After they had this knowledge then they would use their personal law and infuse it into the concept of lightning that they had, which created the stronger and more versatile lightning that no longer was governed by the principles of the natural lightning.

John never realized this before, but he already had all the knowledge of the tier zero version and just hadn't fused the concepts due to his unique acquisition of the law after he had eaten Sal, his body had the tier one lightning law in constant use that flowed through his veins and empowered it. John's body had simply stolen the concepts that Sal had and applied it to him automatically, so he had never paid attention to the simpler concepts that he already knew.In less than five minutes, John had unlocked one of the six minor elemental laws. He had a bit of a rough start part he quickly adapted and dived headlong into the comprehension.

John went for fire next as it was his second best element with his body already able to produce it. What is fire though....one could say that it's the creation of several different factors interacting together and fusing to create a destructive weapon or a rebirth to the dying plants, animals, and people. it provides strength and ambition, but in excess it can overwhelm and over take one mind and body. Nevertheless John saw it as a spark that lives within one's body and ignites the "breath" within oneself, which is violently exploded out when commanded. When he used said principal, a small stream of flames erupted from his hand and he had acquired another law.

John moved on to earth next as he had comprehended the law of materials. The earth element is nurturing and seeks to draw all things together with itself, in order to bring harmony, stability, and strength. It is the densest element and had the most to do with cooperation and connection. The ability to feel connected to oneself and their surroundings gave them their strength. And boom another law bites the dust, John proceeded to water next.

Water was fires antithesis and earths polar opposite which made it slightly harder to comprehend the law. Water represented intelligence and wisdom, flexibility, softness, and pliancy, however with too much of a connection water one becomes unreliable and in-able to to stick to their decisions and has trouble with social connections. Though water one becomes awakened to their inner feelings and their spirituality which make water specialists stronger elemental users to most other cultivators and are often able to comprehend laws easier and faster.

John moved onto the darkness element next, it was the element of tricks and illusions and often times stole/absorbed life force and other elements power to increase the power of an individual. This element is linked to poisoning and murder which is why most assassins tend to go down the path of the darkness element, it was corrupting and manipulative which made it hard for some people to use as their personality didn't line up with it. John had no such problem though as if he needed to he would manipulate and slaughter anyone he needed to for the sake of living in this new and unrelenting world.

'Hopefully by comprehending this element law I can escape the empire with a job working on the outside, like maybe a monster hunter or a merchant'. John was really getting sick of not being able to control his destiny and where he was so he hoped his "great escape" plan would work.

Remembering that there was still two more laws left John dived back into his meditative state, the light element was the next and would not be that hard to comprehend as it and the darkness element were a part of a spectrum and were intricately connected while being completely different. Light was considered the power of the gods and the truth and reality which gifted ones life force and energy to someone else, which healed and strengthened an collection of people rather than just the individual. This element was most connected to healing and protection which meant that it was the path that most priests and healer went down while water could also heal, it was often not as strong as light in that field. Water would accelerate the individuals healing while also using the wounded individuals life force to heal them which made it not ideal when healing someone on the brink of death as they wouldn't have enough life force to sustain them while they recovered. this made light the pinnacle of healing and reinforcement which was fine as water made up for it by having an incredible attacking power compared to the light element.

Steeling himself mentally John quickly started with the overall tier one law of elements, he had everything he needed and only had to link the elements together somehow. John floated through all his memories and thoughts of elements as he manipulated the aura of the item giving off the level on law and as he isolated it he also began to analyze and and mimic the aura using his elemental laws. As John manipulated and mimicked he noticed that they formed something incredible reminiscent to an atom in the aura of the item. It was at that moment that John realized that the element formed into everything that existed and that by the time he mastered the tier three law of elements that he could begin to build his world and could truly start his journey. It all clicked and a atom of energy formed withing John's palm which demonstrated his ability to make matter out of his energy instead of just using the worlds power as a mean to manipulate them. He had started his path as a true worldly defying creature, if his existence was a act of forbidden means then he would simply create his own path and world where abominations were common place and the rulers. He had not only comprehended a new tier one law, but he also had boosted his personal law to a strength that exceeded the second tier while maintaining its tier one status, now that it contained the law of elements John would be the perfect tool of creation through the means of destroying and devouring anything and everything he could.

John stood up while licking his lips and blood lust leaked from his form, he seemed like a demon that only wanted destruction and to slaughter everything. "Let the true blood bath begin". John was still in the testing room, but the comprehension area was isolated from the man. This was so the law would not dissipate or be destroyed and so the cultivator would be able to truly focus on their test.

John got his feelings under control and his sanity returned no longer burdened by blood lust, it was clear and he focus on the future. He would escape this hellish empire no matter what he had to do or how many he had to kill.