The wind spell; Gale steps was the second primary element Martin needed to learn so he could the level of his cultivation.
The Gale steps were what most wind users looked forward to, because it gave them the ability to fly.
Not the type of flying where you would be able to soar into the sky, just an advantage over normal cultivator.
Martin had walked into his home to meet it turned upside down, and Ace say in the middle of it doing something with a piece of paper.
When he looked closer, Martin realized that was a cereal cartons.
Was the kid that obsessed with cereals?
"Is cereals the only thing you enjoy?" Martin walked past the boy, and began putting his place back in order.
If he was in his right mood, he would have rained hell on the Ace with miniature wind blades but after his breakthrough in the practice room, Martin felt a bit light headed.
Somehow, he wondered how far Ace could push his button today.
"Is that what you call them? Cereals? I would have called them balls of divine goodness." Ace appeared in front of Martin's face as he was putting his kitchen in order.
Martin ignored the twisted meaning of the word 'balls' that had appeared in his head as he turned to Ace.
"I don't think they would be that popular if they were named that."
Martin moved away from the kitchen after he was done arranging, the sooner he was done with the arrangements, the faster he could go down to the cave and practice his Gale steps.
Thinking about those steps, Martin wondered if such a low altitude cave would be enough for him. Maybe he would practice outside the cave, but thinking back, it didn't seem possible as everything was underground.
Martin couldn't help but feel that the cave was under something—A huge mountain, a canyon? He just couldn't put his finger on it.
He immediately pushed it out of his mind, as long as his growth was not affected, nothing was wrong with it. He would just use the cave to form the basics of his new spell.
"I'm hungry."
"Me too." Martin thought out loud.
Maybe introducing Ace to some new kinds of food would lead him to stop his cereal cravings.
"Wanna go out?" Martin turned around, and smiled at Ace whose face immediately brightened when he heard the question Martin had asked him.
"Yes." Ace said waving his hands in excitement.
"Good. Set up this place. I'd be back in a few moments." With that, Martin had successfully tricked Ace into working for him.
Martin walked into the cave, and decided to start practicing.
Time had to be used wisely, and that was one thing that he lacked—Time.
The Gale steps was developed by the first Wind Ascendant, during the time when the world had just discovered mana, and now to use it.
Some said it was given by the Wind Divinity himself, Others said the Ascendant got it from his own knowledge. Divinities were also gods; The gods of the elements.
Every element had a divinity overseeing it, one that was superior to even Ascendant with a massive power difference.
Martin couldn't help but wonder if those divinities were the ones who sent him into this world.
_At least I was given a chance_
Martin sighed but he still couldn't help but wonder if the divinities thought of him as some kind of play toy due to all he had been through since he had arrived in his world.
But this was not time to think about any of these issues.
Martin thought about the Gale steps, these spell was created basically to launch a wind mage into the air.
Martin had to be able to grasp accurate control of the wind in his surrounding, so he could maneuver it to his desire.
The Gale Step was a versatile wind spell. It was a spell that used the abilities of whirlpools to lift the user into the sky at a specific distance depending on the amount of mana used.
It earned its name because performing the Gale. Step was like climbing an invisible staircase into the air.
The reason why Martin didn't want to fully try the Gale steps was because the cave wasn't high enough for him to figure out what level he could climb to so he could only start with the foundation.
"I hope this mana quality would be able to strengthen the foundation." Martin muttered, fully focusing on harnessing the wind elements, and bringing them to his order.
This was the hardest part of the spell. Martin had to ensure that his body was light enough to balance on the whirlpool, and also he had to be nimble enough to match with the feel of the wind.
It was dark, and Ace was cursing heavily at Martin.
"He duped me again. It has been five hours. Five!" He clenched his fist but there was nothing he could do.
He wanted to make a mess of what he had arranged but he was sure Martin would make him stay hungry throughout the next day.
Ace just needed to wait.
Meanwhile, Martin had a wide smile on his face. He had finally gotten the steps, and the pure mana had help him a lot.
He was now able to form a whirlpool under his leg, and now, the next thing he wanted to learn was how to perform this spell without making any gestures.
Miss Sheila could do it, he had seen her do it when she had saved he and Bill.
That was what he wanted.
Martin climbed out the trap door, and was surprised to see Ace staring at him with an angry expression written all over his face.
"Hehe, I'll make us some food." Martin didn't give much thought to the kid, it was his own fault for scattering the room in the first place.
"You kept me waiting." Ace said, his face, red from annoyance, and hunger.
"You messed up my home." Martin replied him with a defiant tone, and proceeded to put the noodles into the pot of boiling water.
Ace rolled his eyes but he knew he couldn't argue with Martin because he was also in the wrong.
"What are you cooking up?" Ace said as he drew closer to Martin.
"You'll see."
Moments later, they sat together eating their bowl of noodles.
"There are so many things taste so divine." Ace said as he gobbled up his food, for the first time he actually felt close to satisfaction.
Martin just stared at him.
"How are you growing up so fast?"
"What?" Ace licked his bowl of noodles as he looked at Martin's face, he couldn't understand what the boy was talking about.
"You were a baby a few days ago. Now, you look exactly like a five year old." Martin carried the plates back to the kitchen while he waited for Ace to talk to him.
"I don't know either. I'm just learning about my own powers, and one very important thing I know is how hungry I am." Ace rested his head on his hand as he stared at Martin.
Martin didn't reply him, basically he didn't know what to say, but he would never tell Ace that he was allowed to go out because no one would be suspicious.
They would think of Ace like his own younger brother.
Suddenly Martin felt a splitting headache, an image was appearing in his head, why did he feel that he knew someone that was like a little sibling to him? From the image, it seemed that this person looked about a few years older than Axton when he was just about to go for his first awakening at sixteen. This girl-like figure had waved him off, and it felt like it was a very sad atmosphere
The image was blurry when it appeared so Martin couldn't see who it was, and it suddenly vanished. Martin wondered such image would just appear like that.
The headache reduced significantly causing him to slowly forget what he had seen.
Why had Axton locked up this memories, and that was what Martin didn't understand.
_____
"We have to go back." A man wearing a mask spoke up looking back at the team behind him.
"We can't leave without that experiment, and he'd make sure we wish for death." A man wearing half a mask spoke up, he believed that they had to keep looking, and he didn't understand why their leader had suddenly grown some balls.
"We can only hope—" The masked man continued.
"Hope? The last time someone had hope, he was turned into one of those things. I don't want to be…"
Before the man could finish his sentence, the hand of the masked man moved separating his head from his body, and cutting him off.
As the half-masked man saw his direction of sight had changed, he started to wonder why he had spoken up in the first place when he could have just left them all to their death
The masked man looked around with a grim look, "Is there anyone else who wants to defy me?"
No one moved because they knew that even though they combined their strength, they would not be able to deal with their leader.
With a slight nod of his head, the masked-man leaped off, and his team followed behind him.
As he flew, he swore that he would bring hell to whoever he found with that weapon.
Meanwhile, as Martin washed the dishes, he couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine.
While the next day, standing in the hallway were two guys, they looked like they were deep in thought.
Well just one of them did, the other felt like staying here was a waste of time but he had no choice but to follow his boss.