Lassim watched the rogue convulse on the ground, trapped in the crackling tendrils of his [Lightning Lash]. But there was sothing that caused the world around him to slow down in that mont, sothing that poked at the edge of his mind, sothing about the way the shadows shifted and clung to the rogue’s form even as the lightning coursed through him.
It wasn’t just so barrier technique or a defensive aura that made him really react and notice it—it had an instinctual movent and a surging like a flood breaking through a dam whenever his lightning mana restricted and attacked.
The way the night elent flowed—it reminded him of sothing.
His mind raced, going over the techniques he had mastered.
The behavior of this night energy wasn’t dissimilar to the way his [Aegis] technique used water to shield him, instinctively hardening into ice when under direct threat.
But the more he studied the rogue’s night elental mana’s movents and the way the it pulsed around him, a second, more profound realization struck him.
It wasn’t just like his [Aegis].
It was also reminiscent of his [Lifestream] technique.
His [Lifestream] flowed much like this, finding cracks in the body’s natural life force where it had been damaged, filling them with the healing water mana to restore and fill in the lost life force like a dry river bed. This change of ntality for how it even worked was only a recent discovery thanks to the teachings of the water elentalist Mareen.
But where [Lifestream] was a slow, steady stream ant to heal, this night elent acted and reacted like a flash flood in Lassim’s perspective—sothing aggressive, instinctive, and overpowering.
Lassim’s mind exploded with the possibility and connection he just made—fully inspired.
Could he combine the principles of his healing technique with the water mana’s reactive instinct of [Aegis]? Could he turn his [Lifestream] ability into the enhancing technique that supported him in battle like he had been wanting, not just after the damage was done?
The thought had been nagging at him for weeks—he had wanted to make [Lifestream] a more active part of his combat repertoire since he received it, sothing he could use to protect himself in the heat of the mont to provide him excessive stamina and ability to keep fighting long past what he would normally be capable of at his stage of cultivation.
The recent proficiency he’d gained with [Lifestream] had made the idea even more tantalizing, and now, watching the night elent respond to his attacks, it all seed to click into place.
He grinned despite the intensity of the battle between Vaela and the others surrounding him, and despite the rogue still twitching on the floor in front of him that was held with [Lightning Lash].
Lassim’s mind covered all of this with his enhanced mind in re seconds and as ti seed to return to normal for Lassim… All the rogue saw was his sowhat starry-eyed grin that put an odd sense of primal fear into the half-nevak, half-nexarian rogue.
Lassim couldn’t waste this mont of inspiration.
This was exactly the kind of mont that would help shape his future fighting style that he wanted.
Drawing his focus inward, Lassim disengaged from the rogue on the ground, the [Lightning Lash] flickering out as he let the energy dissipate. The rogue groaned, but Lassim ignored him, focusing entirely on channeling his water elent.
He reached deep into his inner heart world as he connected with the sensation of the dragon statue of the ice dragon’s fragnted soul, Aegrasian, before activating [Lifestream] while pulling at the familiar streams of water mana he had always used to heal.
Yet, this ti he didn’t direct them toward the rogue or any external target. Instead, he called them into himself.
He visualized the way his [Aegis] normally ford around him as a floating spherical barrier of water mana, the way it reacted to threats without his direct control, and he fused that principle with the life-giving energy of his [Lifestream] that would instead flow and fill the crevices of the channels of life force across his body.
As he did, he felt the water mana surge through his body, flowing along his limbs and wrapping around his core. It was like a river eting a delta, flowing with multiple channels just above his skin, coursing along where his skeleton and mana pathways resided.
He didn’t stop there.
Instead of letting the water elent rely fill the gaps like in [Lifestream], he urged it to flow with purpose, to protect and heal. He gave it the command to reinforce his body, like the instinctive barrier his [Aegis] created.
Sohow, he felt like he heard a dragon’s roar in his mind just as the energy responded to his will, the streams of mana coiling around his bones, muscles, and organs, fortifying him and his body sturdily in a way he had never felt before.
The sensation was instantly overwhelming.
His body felt lighter, stronger, more responsive. It was as if every muscle had been perfectly lubricated with the flowing water mana, supporting each movent. That, combined with the sensation from the Tidal Rune’s effects of constantly massaging and enhancing his body’s natural state, he felt incredible. Like a whole new reservoir of power was unlocked.
He could even feel the elental power of this new technique bordering along his progenitor marks, flowing just along the edges of the intricate markings on his chest and legs, as if respecting their space.
He wasn’t sure why, but the mana refused to overlap with the progenitor marks, instead drawing its own path around them, like gentle brooks tracing the edges of a mountain range.
A sudden rush of strength surged through him as he lifted his free hand not holding his halberd, and then clenched it into a fist. His breathing felt easier, his limbs moved more fluidly, and even his vision seed sharper. It was as though his entire body had been revitalized and enhanced in every sense.
He let out a slow breath, a grin spreading across his face. "Lifestream Aegis," he whispered to himself, though simple and really lacking in creativity, naming the technique that had just been born from his inspiration.
No sooner had the words left his lips than the next wave of rogues arrived.
Lassim didn’t have ti to marvel at his newfound power. He could feel the bloodlust coming off the approaching group in waves, their eyes glowing red with the corrupting influence of Kierlan’s Mark.
Where there had been around 12 before, now there were already double despite two dead bodies in front of Vaela, and more were still closing in fast from the distance.
But at this mont, he didn’t feel the sa weariness that had gripped him earlier. His entire being was prid, his body fortified by the flowing water mana of [Lifestream Aegis].
He felt unstoppable.
Vaela was already in motion, her lance launching from her hands. She unleashed her [Raindown Lances] technique, summoning dozens of lightning lances above her head that mirrored her own weapon’s movents, their electric forms crackling as she pulled back and then thrust forward, launching them and shooting toward the approaching hybrid cultivators.
The air humd with the raw power of her Spirit Transcendent stage attacks as the lances rained down from the sky, piercing through the rogues’ defenses and scattering them like a group of rats that were just found inside the grain silo.
Lassim didn’t hesitate to lend his aid.
With his halberd crackling with the familiar blue sparks of lightning and flowing water mana, he surged forward, his body moving effortlessly thanks to the support of his [Lifestream Aegis] and imdiately noticed the minimal effort required for reaching the top speed of his [Lightning Steps] in an instant.
Unable to dwell on that change, his first strike ca down with devastating force—a downward [Slam], fueled with the full weight of a small ocean pressing on the back of his halberd, aid directly at the nearest rogue.
The rogue hybrid raised his arms in a futile attempt to block with a pair of daggers. Yet, Lassim’s halberd crashed into the daggers before continuing towards the rogue’s forearms, shattering his defense and sending him sprawling to the ground with crushed limbs. Possibly a crushed torso and heart as he didn’t get up or even groan in response.
Without pausing, Lassim spun on his heel, pivoting into a sideways [Slash] that cut directly through the next rogue’s chest. The rogue’s body jerked as the blade passed through him, lightning crackling along the wound with an additional blade of water mana continuing on through his body behind him before he crumpled to the ground.
More rogues charged forward as they dodged the incoming blade of water mana from the [Slash], but Lassim was ready.
He swung his halberd in wide arcs, alternating each [Slash] with a sharp series of [Thrust]s, cutting through and piercing the corrupted cultivators as they tried to overwhelm him. Most of the hybrids were equal to Lassim in cultivation and their Nevak enhancents sohow made them more flexible and able to sense the danger in his attacks.
This allowed a considerable amount of dodging, but also gave them the chance to attack him back.
Bolts of the night elent the size of needles were launched from multiple angles at Lassim and blocked by his newest ability. Water mana would lift from his skin and shield him with small and sturdy sections of thick ice that would quickly disperse the attacks before flash-lting and then returning to the flow across his body.
The water mana coursing through him responded to every movent; all while continuing to reinforce his muscles and keeping his stamina from waning. Every ti a rogue’s attack ca too close, the streams of water instinctively shifted and transford, keeping out of reach of the danger.
It was a beautiful display of mastery for the concept of "Flow" that every water cultivator should embody. Lassim didn’t notice it, but his body with Marinelle seed to have surged and widened to an unbelievable degree, making a huge amount of progress between the two.
Both companions were doing their best to lend their aid, as they always did, through their bonds and control of the elents to help him with his rapid-fire attacks and defenses. The true utility of elental companions at this level of power and speed of battle was ant for monts like this as they worked together to manage and control his mana to an unbelievable and precise degree.
Having two elental companions controlling divine level mana on a Spirit Ascension stage cultivator that was launching Spirit Transcendent stage attacks was on full display. Even the storm cloud building above began to drop rain onto the dry desert ground, aiding his defensive, enhancent technique.
Not only that, but the Leviathan constellation blood in full display and silently absorbed so of the cultivation essence and mana from the fallen rogue cultivators as the monts passed, sending the mana into Lassim through his oddly scale-like hardness, but normal looking, skin that he received from the Leviathan’s curse.
Vaela fought beside him, oddly shocked by his overpowered display as she noticed the new technique she’d not seen him use in their last side-by-side defense of the forr outpost. Even the constellation sowhat frightened her with its life-like realness.
Refocusing on her opponents, her lightning-infused lances tore through the air like bolts of divine judgnt at a level slightly more powerful than Lassim.
Each ti one of her lightning lances struck, it left a trail of scorched earth and charred limbs in its wake. She was relentless, her movents fluid and deadly as she darted between the rogues, striking them with precision and power.
The only downside was that these rat-like enemies were even better at being cowards than before, which just began to infuriate her as they refused to take her blows head on.
At one point, a rogue with a massive warhamr lunged toward Vaela, his weapon raised high above his head. But before he could bring it down, Vaela spun her lance and thrust it forward, piercing the rogue’s neck with a crackling bolt of lightning. His body convulsed, the warhamr falling uselessly to the ground as Vaela yanked her lance free.
Lassim had no ti to admire her skill or even focus on her battle. More rogues were coming, their numbers seemingly endless as there were more than the 50 he rembered from the encampnt headed this way. He gritted his teeth, gripping his halberd tighter as he prepared for the next wave that was closing in from the distance.
Reviews
All reviews (0)