Grim got off from bed early in the morning.
He went to other instructors for some clues. But, he received similar details to what his master had exclaimed.
Then, he went to the principal but the principal turned him down saying "I can't help you even if I want to. One can't transfer own understanding to another. But, I can give you a hint."
"Maybe start from the rudimentary level."
Grim left the principal's office with the hint.
Later, he tried to make sense of the hint. But, he couldn't figure out anything.
All of his abilities and masteries had been the result of the system. He had been so dependent on the system for abilities and masteries that he had never thought of deducing the mechanics behind it.
Now, it had come back haunting. He couldn't sleep for weeks as he couldn't stop thinking about the hint but to no avail.
***
He woke up early morning.
All the restlessness had caused dark circles to appear below his eyes, and he looked exhausted.
Suddenly, he remembered Zhu Yi while taking a shower.
"Maybe, he can help me."
He ran to Zhu Yi's manor right after a shower.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Who is it?" A sound reverberated from inside.
Grim replied. "It's me, Grim."
"Come in."
The doors opened.
"So, what brings you here kid?" asked Zhu Yi
Grim replied. "I want to break into the dominion realm. But, my understanding of the elements is non-existent. So, I was thinking maybe you could help me, Senior Zhu."
Bwahahaha
Zhu Yi started laughing uncontrollably.
Grim was left a bit awkward and embarrassed.
Then, Zhu Yi gave a long explanation.
"To understand an element you have to go to the locations with extremities and try to get insight from there. Fiery Highlands is good for understanding the 'fire' element. I don't know about other places."
"People usually place their hope on luck for enlightenment. It's rare for someone trying to choose a fusion path."
Grim replied. "I don't want to place my hopes on luck."
Haha
"It's good to be hot-blooded when you are young. Now, scram I have work to do."
Zhu Yi shut the door before Grim could even thank him.
***
Grim returned to his room and lay in his bed. Then, he started digesting the information.
"Extremities, huh."
"Extremities."x3
"Wait a minute. Does my energy blast count as one? It's even made from the fusion of 'fire' and 'wind' elements."
Grim jolted from his bed.
"I'll test my theory at fiery highlands, and even if I don't succeed I can search for the extremity in the highlands."
Grim went out of the academy and headed straight for the fiery highlands.
He didn't take the mission on this occasion since it would drag him down with the deadline. But, he didn't forget to take his stock of liquid Qi.
***
Four days later.
Grim could be seen at the entrance of the highlands. He didn't bother hunting beasts this time.
"Ahh! The nostalgia."
Grim stood there for a few minutes to appreciate the fond memories. Afterward, he began the preparations to test the theory.
'Polyp'
80% of his Qi disappeared in an instant and an identical clone was summoned.
Grim was surprised to see another version of him. Then, he started inspecting the clone.
The clone stood in a place sensing his curiosity.
"Walk left"
He gave a command to the clone, and it walked left.
"Walk right"
"Run"
Grim started giving him multiple commands, and the clone followed obediently.
A thought popped into his mind. "I wonder if it can speak."
Suddenly, he heard a reply. "Yes, I can."
"You can what?" asked Grim.
The clone replied again. "I can speak of course."
He was taken aback by the reply. He didn't remember asking it. Suddenly, he remembered his thought.
"It can read thoughts?"
The clone replied again. "Yes, I can."
Grim thought. "Holy shit. That's amazing as well as creepy."
The clone replied. "It's not creepy. I'm part of you so it makes sense to be able to read your thoughts."
Grim was bitter. "Sense my ass. I can't read your thoughts, how does that make sense?"
The clone was silent.
***
Grim went back to the mission after the bickering was over.
"Last time I restrained my cultivation to the peak-refiner realm. Yet, the aftermath was devastating. This time I should restrain it to the early-refiner realm."
He gave a command. "Limit your strength to the early-refiner realm."
The clone followed his command.
'Energy Burst'
An energy orb started forming in front of the clone. Grim went near it to take a look.
He used his consciousness to inspect the orb. He could feel the energy being sucked from the clone and getting compressed into the orb. But he couldn't figure out the mechanism behind it.
The orb had fully developed two minutes later. It had a size of a fist, and it started advancing. As before, it detonated automatically after the connection with the clone ended at 5km.
The damage was reduced by 60% than previously. Still, it had managed to vaporize anything within 40 meters, causing a fire within 120 meters, and the shockwave spread across 800 meters.
Grim thought. "That should be able to kill an average cultivator at the early-evolution realm."
***
Blurghhh!
The clone threw up blood. So, Grim inspected his body for injuries and was relieved to find out it was only superficial injuries.
"Here, take this."
Grim gave him the gourd with liquid Qi. The clone understood his intentions and went back to healing.
The superficial injuries could be healed by regeneration, so the clone was back to a healthy state by the morning.
'Energy Burst'
While the energy orb was being shaped, Grim took his time to study the mechanism behind it. Yet, he couldn't figure out anything again.
Nevertheless, he was determined to find the secrets behind the fusion and mastery of the elements.
Even he got involved with the testing after learning about the minimal backlash of 'energy burst'.
He restrained his cultivation to the early-refiner realm and used 'energy burst'. To his surprise, the effect was 30% better than the clone causing him to rupture his lungs and broken ribs. So, he was forced to use 'mend life'.
After some digging, the culprit turned out to be his first crystal. It had made his Qi 3x purer than before.
Now, he could only depend on the clone.
***
Six months later.
Boom!
A loud explosion could be heard.
"So, that's how it is."
After six grueling months, Grim had gained some enlightenment.
"So, Qi can be used as the foundation for all the elements. For example, it can be used as fuel for 'fire', and turned to gas for 'air' elements."
He meditated in a corner and started digesting all the information. His mastery started progressing as he digested the information.
It took another six months of testing and digesting results to level up his 'air' and fire mastery to the advanced level.
"Finally. Now, I can break through to the dominion realm."
His hard work had paid off. But it had cost him 1.8 liters (61 oz) of liquid Qi, and his clone had ballooned up because of the residue Qi left in his body.
***
Grim gave an order "Guard me."
Then, he started absorbing Qi to generate heavenly tribulation.
Soon, a dark cloud started forming over his head. Thunder started rumbling in the cloud.
Bam!
A lightning made its way toward him.
'Earth Shield'
He made a shield in an instant blocking the attack.
Soon, a lightning bolt mixed with the 'earth' element descended on him.
The impact from the lightning bolts was heavier than previous ones. By the time, he passed all four elements he was left sweating.
He thought the tribulation was over. So, he canceled the 'earth shield'. But, a thunderbolt struck him abruptly.
"Wha..."
He was shocked 'literally and metaphorically'.
Arghhhhhhhh!
Extreme pain caused his mind to come back to its senses. He inspected his body in a hurry.
His body had burnt completely exposing his muscles and even some veins had been damaged.
"How am I alive after that?"
He covered his entire body with the 'earth shield' and started ingesting Qi.
Soon, another lightning bolt descended and clashed with the shield.
Bam!
The impact was even heavier than the previous one forcing him to use 'vigor'. But, it made the situation even worse as it increased pressure on his muscles and tissues.
The lightning bolt kept on descending, and he kept enduring worsening his situation even more.
Twenty minutes later, the last bolt finally struck-causing his shield to shatter into pieces. The collision reduced the power of the bolt by 80%. But, it was still heading toward him.
'Earth Shield'
He activated it at the last moment saving his life. But, he was barely conscious and his body was in an even worse state.
'Mend Life'
His body started repairing all the injuries rapidly. But, before he could celebrate he entered an enlightened state.
His consciousness entered a strange space. Everything was dark around him.
Soon, a strange power rushed into his consciousness. At first, it started pouring knowledge about the domain. Then, it started cleansing his consciousness and strengthening it.
[Evo points left: 164,750]