"It's time." Spark said as it moved closer towards the large lightning mass. A seal became visible within seconds, Young recognized this to be the seal placed on the lightning mass in order to prevent it from running wild.
"I'll only release a fraction of the seal's power. It will be flowing directly into you. Do your best…" Spark added as the atmosphere of the soul sea changed, Young couldn't help but shudder as a wave of pressure bared down on him. He was immediately forced to his knees and seconds later a massive surge of lightning struck down upon him.
"AGH!" He shouted as the energy flowed into him, he clasped his hands together, making the Crashing Thunder hand seal in an effort to begin assimilating the energy. Much like Spark described, the power was intense, stronger than anything he'd felt before. At this point it was not unmanageable and within a few seconds Young barely managed to reign it in. The surging energy encompassing his body was quickly pulled inside of him.
"Good, good. Now, little by little I will increase the intensity." Spark said, prompting Young to nod. He was too focused to do anything else. At this point he managed to keep his saturation level well below 10% and he was assimilating almost 90% of the energy flowing his way. A little more shouldn't make a huge--
Young's eyes popped open as he began to scream in pain. His muscles body was on fire, his muscles and skin felt like they had alighted into flame but it was just the sensation of new levels of energy being directed at him. He struggled to come to grips with the power, but unlike before he couldn't find a way. This would take some time, the energy overflowed outward and arced into various lightning strikes as Young's heart began to race.
"I can do this! I can." He repeated to himself as he struggled to bring the energy under control, still all he could do was prevent losing total control. Slowly, surely he made adjustments to the way he absorbed the lightning. Rather than absorbing it directly, he ignored that altogether and focused solely on assimilating. The saturation within his body rose dramatically for a few seconds but finally settled at an average of 20 to 25%.
This patterned continued for minutes, everytime Young felt that he managed to get accustomed to the flow of energy, it would increase. Five stages total until finally, an entire hour later Young felt himself being pushed well beyond his limits.
"This is it, the final push, endure it!" Spark commanded as the energy reached the final level. Young could barely maintain consciousness at this point, his saturation level was as high as it had ever been, 87% and climbing.
"I can't give up. I can't.." He repeated to himself as he summoned the totality of his focus for the final stage of the breakthrough. He felt the energy completely overcome him and the sense of his limitations slowly began to fade, becoming much harder to distinguish. He felt a bubbling, emerging power flowing from within and soon it burst forth to every corner of his body as a bright light shined upwards and out of every orifice.
This lasted for some ten seconds, growing ever more intense until finally all that was left was Young on his hands and knees, his body covered in sweat as an aura of flaring energy slowly began to fade.
"Excellent. Great work." Spark said as he gazed upon the young man.
[You've reached Cultivation Rank 2.]
[Your soul sea has expanded, and as a result your perception of self has grown.]
[You can now access your elemental affinity.]
[You obtained access to 2 qi cores.]
[Name : Jade, Young]
[Age : 15 Years Old]
[Affinity : Lightning (Evolved)]
[Martial Style : None]
[Core 1: 0 / 4,750 ]
[Core 2 : 0 / 4,750]
[Health : 521 / 573 (0%) ]
[Qi : 4,021 / 4,325]
[Stamina : 125 / 365 (0%) ]
[Power : 48 (0%) ]
[Speed : 41 (0%) ]
[Agility : 39 (0%) ]
[Intelligence : 52 (0%)]
[Cultivation Rank 1, Level 0 / 199]
[Soul Sea Grade 3]
[Physical Resistance : 17%]
[Elemental Resistance : 10%]
[Absolute Defense : 3]
[Body Reinforcement (Outer) - 1] +
[Body Reinforcement (Inner) - 1] +
[Body Reinforcement (Frame) - 1] +
"This is far beyond my expectations, and what is this? You have 2 qi cores? I've never heard of such a thing…" Spark remarked as he looked over Young's status.
Young was still struggling to catch his breath, so he didn't even have the energy to ask what Spark meant.
"How are you? Can you continue? Take a rest. We still have some time left before I must rest. There are many things I must now show you." Spark said.
"That was a lot more intense than I thought it would be." Young said between breaths.
"Yes. The first time is always physically taxing. Once you improve your body reinforcement it won't be nearly as painful though."
"That's good to hear!" Young said as he finally got to his feet. His knees were still a bit shaky, but otherwise he felt okay.
"Normally I'd recommend you rest and wait for your new energy to stabilize within your body -- but now is not the time. With what little time I have left, I must teach you how to access and use your own elemental affinity." Spark said.
Just hearing this was enough to bring a smile to Young's face.
"Compared to your breakthrough and your experience manipulating lightning this should be simple." Spark said.
"Close your eyes and focus on your chest, imagine a ball of qi there. Allow it to grow and peer deep into it. You should see a spark there. Your task is to grab the spark, using your qi as fuel and enlarge it. Remember, the nature of lightning is not to be controlled but rather to run wild." Spark coached as Young followed his instructions. Indeed, there in the darkness Young felt the growing spark. The energy was blue in color and tiny at first, but the more energy Young used to feed it, the larger it became. Soon the lightning threatened to overflow but curiously enough Young didn't feel pain or a sense of danger.
"Open your eyes." Spark said.
Young opened his eyes and looked down at his hands. Much to his surprise the blue lightning sparked and cracked within his open palms.
"This is amazing…" Young said as the energy danced along his fingertips.
"It's so warm." He then added.
"Indeed. You've managed to awaken to your natural affinity. Unlike the lightning mass, this energy is made from your own qi by pulling out the elements of lightning. It will grow in strength along with you as well. This can be used to…" Spark paused for a moment, his voice faltering.
"To learn techniques. I thought I had more time.. "
"It's okay.. We can pick this back up when you awaken." Young replied.
"No. Time is gowing ever short. It's been almost a week and a half now since you've been stranded in this place. Its about time we think about leaving this place." Spark said.
"Will that even be possible? I inspected the ravine. It looks like we're trapped here.��
"With the right technique leaving this place is child's play. With that in mind, there are three things I need to teach you so listen closely. I don't have much time."
"The first is called 'Cloak'. Normally your qi resides within your body but as you increase the amount of it, you can learn to freely manipulate it. Cloak is a simple technique in which you push your qi outward and form it into a film to cover your body. This is a very important basic technique. From now on, no matter what you're doing -- perform this technique for as long as possible. It must become second nature to you." Young could tell Spark was really struggling to maintain consciousness, his voice faded in and out like a flickering lantern.
"The next is.. Lightning Cloak.. Like, cloak, except … you use your own Lightning. When you can maintain both, you will finally be ready for…'Flash'--"
And just like that, Spark was gone-- or so Young thought. He received another set of alerts a few moments later :
[Entry added 'Affinity Core'.]
[Tutorial Added : Basic Techniques.]
[Quest Complete : Awakening Affinity]
[Quest Added : Body Reinforcement Rank 2.]