Chapter 18) The Chains Of Mortality

I sat there and pondered about this revelation. 'To think just breaking through to the master rank would prove to be such an eyeopener. I assume this was the whole reason behind the last few days worth of training doing multi-casting.'

As I stood there in a daze, father stared at me with an indifferent gaze. 'This is going to be the true test of her understanding. To become a master is to break off the first set of mortal shackles the world gave us. She will be stepping into a new plane of existence entirely. I hope she can take the step without any resistance.'

I finally digested all the information and realized that I had no idea which elements I should fuse to make my breakthrough. Under normal circumstances, anyone would simply have two, if not three affinities to specific elements, and brought them to the doorstep of mastery to perform their breakthrough, but since my affinity for the elements encompasses all of the ones known to man, it made it quite challenging to see which specific element I had the best proficiency with. 'Oh to be a prodigy, quite literally having prodigal level problems with my absolute supremacy at birth. (sigh).' My father coughed up some blood for some reason at the end of my thought. 'Oh well, he probably bit his tongue or something.'

Unbeknownst to myself, father had been listening in on my thoughts and couldn't handle the shameless act I had put on in my head, causing him to cough blood. 'This daughter of mine sure knows how to be a shameless kid whenever she chooses. I wonder who she gets it from?' Somewhere in the castle, my mother was being attended by one of the maids, as for some reason she had spontaneously coughed up a few drops of blood herself.

'Anyway, which ones should I go with? I have always fancied lightning magic as it is a subvariant of air.' Curiously, while it is a subtype of air magic, it is not counted as a "compound" mana type, or fusion type to be precise. I quickly asked my father about it, making him smile.

"Of course it won't be a fusion type, as what would you possibly fuse to gain it? While technically it would be air and earth magic, that is not true to a certain degree. Same thing for air and water, as lightning naturally occurs in thunderheads, but is not a fusion of those two elements. It is simply a more dominating elemental composition of air."

I tilted my head in confusion towards the last bit.

"Let me elaborate on this then. Lightning is violent air, if we were to be as simplistic as possible. It is not a fusion as the air element is simply agitated by having other elements near it, and since air is a more gentle element, it's inherent will was granted a new form in the shape of lightning by the world's grace. Think of the lightning element as a protective and overbearing sibling. It simply wishes to push other elements away to protect the inherent air element in the vicinity."

I stood there for a moment before a new question surfaced.

"Does that not mean that lightning and air can not fuse as they're both essentially the same thing?"

He smiled cryptically before replying.

"That is something we can discuss when you are a higher stage."

I could only pout at his answer and went back to my inner debate. 'If lightning rejects other elements, then I should not use it for my first fusion. Hmm, I did forget that the elements themselves have a kind of personality that is a key characteristic to their functions. Water and air are generally serene in nature, while earth is stoic and firm. Maybe the base element I should go with should have a more open or neutral personality, like light magic or something. Wait, what if I try to create a "new" type of mana? He said to become a master is to fuse two or more elements to create or bring forth compound mana energy that is either scarce normally, or non existent. Maybe this can work...'

My father slowly took a few steps back and watched as the trees swayed with a breeze that slowly turned into a gale. Without my knowing, the color of my internal mana radiated off of me, slowly growing taller and taller as an aura of dominance came out of me. My father had an almost hysterical smile on his face as the mana in the air grew agitated with my presence. He could see me form a ball of white light in one hand, while a raging ball of blue fire formed in the other. When he thought that was it, he saw me create a condensed ball of lightning. His eyes grew wide as he realized what I was intending to do. 'This girl is going to not only use three elements, but use two of the most destructive elements with the single most gentle type? Is she trying to kill me?'

He released his will to the surroundings and created a large dome around us, letting mana seep in with my pull, while trying to contain the potential damage that I will cause. 'I hope you can do this sweetie.'

'Gods why the hell does this hurt so much?! I feel my body creaking and groaning with every second I pull more mana to the spheres! I've only just now gotten the appropriate amounts for my fusion attempt, and already my body is this battered. I only wanted to use lightning magic as a binding agent between the fire and light mana because of its more "protective" sub personality, but boy does it not like the idea! I can feel the emotions radiating off of these three and it can only be described as a stale mate right now. I have to find out how I can get them to come together before I blow up the castle.'

I stood there, arms splayed out to either side of my body, veins glowing, and aura reaching an all time high. The skies above my location rumbled with dangerous intentions, as though the world was angry for some reason. I didn't know it at the time, but my father was having a chat with the World's Will, convincing it to let me continue and seek me out after my breakthrough. He seemingly believed I could achieve my breakthrough, but deep down he had his doubts. 'Please sweetie, the world does not wish for you to disappear, as you're its last hope.'

Minutes stretched to hours, until finally, I got the elements to reach an agreement.

'Finally, you crazy elements almost had me breakdown crying! Let's do this!'

The world felt the change all of a sudden. The skies stayed dark, but the angry rumbling stopped. Everything seemed to hold its breathe, waiting. Finally, the three orbs of of mana converged, creating a myriad of flashing colors before coalescing into a ball of bright light. A light blue hue emanated off of it, as it pulsed with purpose.

"Father, I present to you my new fusion element. As I don't think it is strictly a natural element, and it looks so pretty, I think I shall call it aurora magic."

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After I relaxed my control on the aurora magic I was displaying, I saw a faint, translucent, chain snap, just barely in my periphery. The moment it completely disappeared, my senses had an immense change. Where before I could clearly see basic elements in the air, and faintly see some compound elements roaming, I could now clearly see all the particles in the air, and faint strings everywhere. The strings had an extremely domineering feeling, so I avoided trying to touch or focus on them too much. I looked over to Father once again, only to see him smiling like a big goof ball.

"So are you going to say anything? Or do I have to ask for the congratulations I rightfully deserve?"

He started laughing while walking forward. With a wave of his hands, I watched in astonishment as he formed a wisp of aurora energy as I had done before. A look of wonder passed his face before finally standing right in front of me.

"This energy seems like fun. You're calling it aurora right? I suppose that is suitable for this type. Hmm.. seems as though it doesn't have any destructive properties, weirdly enough. Why is that?"

I couldn't get past how he was casually waving around my new element like it was nothing. Reading my thoughts, he chuckled.

"Of course I'd be able to use it after watching you do it right in front of me. You're not the only genius here sweetie. You seem to have forgotten I'm the original prodigal child of the heavens, and you're the knock off product I graced the world with. Hmph."

I coughed a mouthful of blood. 'Where does he get off with this shamelessness. I'm glad neither little Jess nor I got any of this, or the world would collapse.' The World's Will at that moment felt as though it had been struck on the head after hearing this child's hypocrisy, dying the skies red for a fraction of a moment, quickly recovering immediately after.

'Weird. I thought I just watched the sky dye red for a moment. Hmm, must of been my imagination.'

After recovering from that shameless attack, I knew I had to attack where it would hurt most.

"Hmm, just curious Father. If you claim to be a genius as well, why is it that I was the one to create this element instead of you? It's almost as though you didn't have the ABILITY to do so. I worry for mother if this is as far as your genius surmounts to. Let us digress though as I have a question. I saw some weird chain snap when I went through my breakthrough just now. Any idea what that was about?"

My poor father was still wiping the foam from the corner of his mouth after having received such a fierce retort. 'Gods he loves mother far too much.' He quickly recovered to answer my question however.

"I'm glad you actually payed enough attention to notice the chains this early into your ascension. Those were the Chains of Mortality, and they are the world's limitation placed on all living creatures. They directly impact how long we live as a species. The more chains a species possesses, the more limited of a life span they have. Humans have an average chain count in comparison to some animals and humanoids. Some species only have four or less chains. They would be the Elves and Dragons as examples, while some beasts or even insects have up to twenty, barely surviving hours or days at a time. To break a chain is to strive closer to immortality, having granted yourself a longer lifespan. You, sweetie, have just taken your first step towards eternal life."

I looked down at my hands, trying to find anything different about me, only to find nothing.

"I don't feel different Father. I would have thought it would feel.. I don't know how I'd feel to 'ascend' as you put it. I just thought something significant would change if something like that is taking place."

He looked across the courtyard, a light smile on his face. His gaze swept up into the skies, before he said: "You're looking, but you're not seeing, Lucy. Cast your gaze out to the world, and then you'll know."

I did as instructed, letting my senses expand as far as they could go, shocked that I could feel the life force of the servants walking around in halls I couldn't physically see, or feel the life of every ant and plant in the courtyard, feeling the thrum of energy frolicking everywhere. 'So this is what Father was talking about. I really was looking without seeing huh?'

The air seemed to feel more pleasant to my skin, the grass danced to the beat of life, and I felt that dance resonate in my soul. I did not realize the world could be so vibrant and peaceful without my knowledge. I feel like I was blinded by the world's beauty for the first time. When I retracted my perception, Father had a gentle smile as he looked at me.

"This is what it feels like to accept and resonate with life. Cherish this feeling. Build upon it, and nurture a new understanding to the world, and the world will grace you with millions of experiences like this first sight. After defeating the last Demon God, I realized all of this, and now here I am, at the pinnacle of humanity, with the literal world as my backing."

I couldn't help but be happy knowing Father is who he is. If any other man on the planet had the power that Father had, I highly doubt they could be as gentle or stoic as a person. They would probably abuse their power, or be consumed by it, but here Father was, gazing at life like an old childhood friend, appreciating every aspect of what it was, and helping it grow further.

I closed the distance between us and gave Father a hug from the side. He seemed a bit startled at first before settling into it and patting my head lovingly.

"Father, I'm proud to call you Father, for there is no one I'd ever come to respect or love more."

'Hey, hey, hey. You're gonna make me cry Lucy, please stop it. Hey is that a tear in my eye? Huh? Nah, just sweating from my eyes is all. Yeah, that's it.'

I saw father wipe a tear away from his eye before shifting position to give me a proper hug.

"You may have to go through many trials in the coming future, but know this. No matter where you are, no matter what you face, your mother and I will love and support you with every fiber of our beings. You are our precious daughter, and the damn crown princess after all."

I snuggled closer, burying my face in his abdomen. I was trying super hard not to show how embarrassed I was from his words. I started to lightly punch his stomach while he chuckled with a wry smile plastered on his face.

'I suppose it is about time the Prince should be arriving with word from his father.'

The thought hadn't even been finished before a guard came walking in.

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince of Enete has arrived with a report from his father, King Reiner. The Prince says he comes bearing good news."

Letting out a dramatic sigh, he promptly straightened his back before looking at the guard. "Relay to the Prince he can wait in the council room while I dawn the appropriate attire for this meeting. The morning has been quite eventful and I wish to wash up first." With a salute, the guard promptly left to relay the message. Father gave me a once over before snorting.

"Darling it would behoove you to take a bath after your breakthrough. Take your time, as this meeting is more so just to finalize the plans you overheard me discussing with the Prince the last time he was here. Take Jess while you're at it, make it a sister bonding event if you want."

I gave him a side eye before looking down at my clothes. I hadn't realized till now that I am fairly drenched in sweat after my ordeal. 'I liked these casual clothes too..' I couldn't help but think before briskly walking back to my private bathing room.