In alex's first experiment with the bio energy crystals involving the elemental orbs he curiously found that rather than growing under their exposure the crystal actually seem to turn into smoke and scatter. he originally thought that maybe the orbs actually absorbed the bioenergy to strengthen themselves but further testing proved that untrue. instead what alex discovered was that the energy scattered into each of the elements that immediately dissipated as well as a sixth type of thing that was absorbed by the world. it was very clear to alex that whatever this mystery element was it was exactly what he was missing to allow bioenergy crystal to grow.
The problem was that whatever this element was remained undetectable and thus unidentifiable so long as it was surrounded by the known elements. it was as if the stuff fused seamlessly with whatever energy it was left with. this left alex with quite the headache since he refused to rely on the system for every slight inconvenience. if the scholars of this world knew what his problem was they may just beat him with a thick book in anger. after all he had managed to discover a sixth hidden element and yet he was complaining about hitting a snag in his progress.
This was the biggest downside that the system had , thanks to alex always getting things instantly rather than actually needing to put in the time needed normally to create his things he had grown to have an issue with his patience. when it came to combat and power alex wasn't very affected by this since he grew stronger exponentially allowing him to brute force his victories. for long drawn out processes like proper research however alex quickly found out how low his patience was and figured out the cause as well.
'To think i would grow into someone used to instant gratification.' he thought bitterly. it was a depressing thought for alex to realize that not only had he tossed away most of his humanity willingly but also had forgotten the harsh lessons he learned as a homeless person before his death. his loss of humanity didn't bother him since being a part of that race had been nothing but trouble for him previously. losing the patience from his past life however stung when he figured it out and he couldn't help but wonder if that divine being was aware of this happening.
Alex took this research project of his as a way to build up his patience once more and completely resisted the temptation of instant success for an entire month. in this time he had performed countless experiments involving bioenergy crystals in order to figure out this hidden element. he tested the effects of creating an imbalance in the elements that made up the crystals to observe the results along with numerous others. by the end of the month alex was practically unrivaled in his knowledge regarding bioenergy crystals thanks to his single minded dedication and talent.
It certainly didn't hurt that he had the unique advantage of being a powerful five element monster to channel towards his goal. without this alex might not have reached this point without the system in decades if at all. he had managed to discover a few rules that this sixth element that he called {spirit} followed. the first was that it couldn't exist without a vessel or other type of energy to cling to. whenever alex managed to draw it out it would always get absorbed by either the planet itself or an object nearby.
The second rule was that spirit caused a fundamental difference in items that absorbed it compared to those that hadn't. in tiny amounts this difference was nearly unnoticeable but after carefully ensuring a pebble of quarts absorbed a considerable amount the change became very distinct. to be specific the quartz pebble changed from foggy white to as clear as glass. the durability of the pebble also shot up by an insane amount once this fundamental change had finished easily reaching the durability of iron itself somehow. considering how brittle quartz usually was this change was startling to say the least.
The third rule fit the theory that all elements had a direct counter element as the spirit could not under any circumstances fuse into dragon energy. not only was the fusion impossible but any attempt to do so ended up with violent results. the two elements clashed with each other so strongly that it set off a frag grenade sized explosion of light and force when even a spark of the two met. there was no heat produced from this explosion however much to alex's astonishment the first time it happened , he called this reaction {photonic crash} since it was only light and force created.
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