"Spark!" Young practically shouted. The hovering blue flame was little less than three meters away, hovering close to the large lightning mass.
"Yes. That's me. I am...surprised. You seem to be doing quite well… perhaps there is hope for us yet. How long have I been resting?" Spark asked.
"Almost five days now." Young responded as he floated towards Spark.
"That can't be--wait, yes it is. This is troubling… I meant to take a short nap.." Spark said, his voice taking on an air of concern.
"What do you mean?" Young asked.
"The seal is… stronger than I expected. It's proving much more difficult to control the power within it. When I created the materia for you it drained a good deal of my own strength, forcing me into slumber."
"I see. I wondered why you were gone so long." Young Jade said before adding, "But at least you're back."
"For now. To tell you the truth, I'm still very much weary. But I intended to check on you after some hours--not days. Allow me to examine your progress, Young Jade." Spark said as the gentle blue flames began to flicker, finally flaring up.
"This is..surprisingly good for four days time." Spark remarked after a few idle seconds.
"You've even reached the point where you are ready to make a breakthrough, though there are a few things you should do before that. Have you been engaging in battle? And if so, what creatures have you dealt with?"
Young recounted some of his experiences until the present.
"Cave Grubs. Well, they are pretty weak but they can still be deadly to someone who is not trained properly. It is a good thing you acquired your Body Fortification. You should also obtain Inner and Frame versions as soon as practical." Spark explained.
"I was just deciding what I should do next, so it's good that you woke up when you did."
"Indeed Young. I also noticed that cultivation technique. If you don't mind me asking--what was that?"
"Cultivation technique? Oh. Honestly.. I never got that far. Golden Leaf doesn't even teach things like that until the middle of the first year and several months of training."
"That's ridiculous! Do your teachers not understand that the proper cultivation technique is pivotal to optimal growth?" Spark's voice rose as he spoke, betraying slight undertones of exasperation.
"Truthfully..my teachers didn't teach me much...of anything." Young admitted as he cast his gaze downward.
"Well. That's good, after all it sounds like they have no idea what they are doing." Spark snapped.
"I will teach you a basic hand sign for cultivating lightning element. It is called Crashing Thunder. It will allow you to properly manipulate the flow of lightning element and speed up the rate at which you can both absorb and assimilate it."
"Really? That sounds too good to be true." Young remarked skeptically.
"And yet, it's not." Spark replied as an image appeared before Young's eyes. It was a picture of hands forming a certain sign. Young clasped his hands together to mimic the hand seal.
"Good. This is the first step. I assume you know of cycling, correct? It's the very basic notion of flowing qi energy through your body's main meridians."
"Yes, I use it--"
"Good, STOP. Normal qi cycling is only good for refining your OWN qi. For foreign energies, specifically elemental energies, each responds to a different method for cycling energy. In the case of lightning, you must consider the nature of lightning to truly understand how to handle it."
"So what do I need to do to control lightning then?"
"You can't control lightning. You can only manipulate or guide it. Lightning is too powerful and your body is too frail. Even masters of lightning element accept this basic truth. They may grow resistant to their own lightning element but the attempt to control it is simply folly. This hand seal, along with the cycling method I'm about to teach you will greatly aid your ability to collect energy from this mass."
After a few minutes of conversation and visuals Young better grasped the 'Crashing Thunder' cultivation technique. Essentially, he would allow lightning element to concentrate at the crown and once it reached a certain point he would periodically guide it to his navel to assimilate the energy. As Spark explained, because it was done this way one could release larger bursts of energy safely and avoid injuring themselves. It also worked for infusing the body as well.
"Now that you know, please stop using that horrid technique. It's imperative to both of us.." Spark paused for a moment and Young could have sworn he heard Spark's voice falter.
"Are you okay?" Young asked.
"Truthfully.. No. The rate at which you will need to absorb this energy must be increased. I have no choice to loosen the seal slightly so that I can recover more quickly, otherwise I fear it may take me another week to fully regenerate."
"So, what does that mean for me?" Young then asked.
"Your saturation will increase more quickly. Of course, since you've grown stronger it won't affect you as much-- your saturation limit has increased as well. But, you will need to decrease the saturation within you more often because of this." Spark explained.
"Oh, is that all? Go for it." Young said dismissively as he waved his hand.
"Hmph. Very well. It's done." Spark said. Young could have sworn he saw a ripple travel upwards through the lightning mass around that time.
"Do you have any other questions? I have a bit more time before I need to rest." Spark asked.
"Yes.. earlier you said that you wouldn't recommend me attempting a breakthrough yet. Why is that?"
"There are numerous reasons. The first is that, for every rank you rise in cultivation, the same types of energy will no longer suffice to help you grow. You must continually search out new, more pure forms of energy and if you can't find them, you must take the time to absorb low grade energy then condense it before it will be of use.
With this in mind, you should focus on improving yourself as much as possible before you attempt to break through. The second reason is that the higher your rank, the more 'expensive' the cost when it comes to Body Reinforcement. You should at minimum reach rank one for both inner and frame reinforcement. It will be significantly easier to do it now than if you were to wait until rank 2 or higher.
The final, and perhaps most important reason is due to the lightning mass. While I am holding it in check, there will come a time in the near future where I need to release larger amounts all at once in order to prolong the seal's integrity. This will buy you more time in the long run, but you will have to quickly absorb and assimilate all of the energy-- once you start you won't be able to stop until it's done. It's dangerous and if you aren't prepared you may injure yourself or worse, perish."
"Isn't it possible to just accept some of the energy and redirect it out of my body? Wouldn't that be just as helpful to alleviate the burden?"
"Yes. But its incredibly wasteful to do so. All elements have grades associated with them, one through nine with nine being the most pure. Pure elements are for lack of a better term, clean and more condensed. In other words, high grade elemental energy. It would normally take someone thousands of years to amass this level of pure energy. In fact, the only reason your cultivation is proceeding so smoothly is precisely because this energy mass is grade 9. To simply expel it would be a major waste!
Besides, some of my consciousness is intermingled with that mass. If I want to learn who I am, and by extension remember new ways to help you as well -- you absolutely must syphon off all of the energy, or at least enough that I can begin to manage the seal more effectively."
Young had to admit Spark was very convincing with his logic.
"I see. Sorry, I was just trying to help." Young added.
"No, you are fine. I am just growing weary again. It is time for me to sleep once more." Young said, his voice now lowering to a whisper.
"Obtain the Body Reinforcements. Cultivate your qi as high as possible. I..will...return..soon.." Spark's voice faded as his blue flame flickered and faded away.