After hours and hours of continuous, repetitive, and quite frankly monotonous attempts to control Aether, Redd had an epiphany of sorts. All this time, he had been trying to forcefully make Aether his power and firmly believed it was possible with no actual evidence of it.
Hell, Lodra had told him that it was impossible. However, he still didn't listen. But, now that he thought about it. Perhaps his approach wasn't completely right. Something about Aether screamed pride and dignity, just like his own. It didn't listen to him as much as he didn't listen to it. The two were similar in that regard.
Would a prideful entity succumb to a mere 15-year-old kid? No, of course not. Well, not entirely the case, at least.
'What if instead of that… Hmm, could this work?' Thinking about it for a second, Redd smiled before he closed his eyes again and tried for god knows what attempt it was.
Aether instantly approached him the moment he closed his eyes. At this point, his mastery of attracting Aether has evolved continuously to the point where it now barely took him a second to do it in contrast to the few seconds it took a few days ago.
The Aether quickly accumulated around him. However, this time, it didn't enter his body and then quickly left like before. Instead, it halted around him. Redd's face scrunched a little as a droplet of sweat fell down his face.
Time passed slowly as the particles floated around him while Redd's face was projecting the internal battle he was having. It was as if he was having a conflict with someone and he was losing. However, he didn't give up as he kept doing whatever he was doing.
Seconds turned into minutes and then into hours. Redd's struggle only became harder and harder as time went by. Keeping full concentration for hours was already as it was, but coupled with what he was doing, it was at least ten times harder than before.
It was a true test of his will and desire to truly learn. Somehow, this turned out to be way harder than fighting those 7 wolves.
At least throwing punches and getting beaten up is pretty straightforward stuff.
By the time it hit afternoon, Lodra finally entered Redd's room to check on him. The boy didn't leave this place the whole time and kept training religiously.
'Is he trying to kill himself with training? At least eat, you brat.' As he was about to call for Redd, his eyes fell on the boy and immediately erased any thought of waking him up. Something… Something odd was happening.
Lodra almost didn't believe his eyes so he scratched them once before blinking. However, everything in front of him was as real as it could get.
The particles of Aether were flowing around Redd. No, flowing wasn't even describing it properly. They were dancing around him beautifully, creating an almost completely blue halo of Aether.
The way Aether moved around him, the way it seemed to celebrate Redd was so mesmerizing to look at. Each particle caressed his body gently like a mother touching her child.
"What in the Hunter's Dream is that?" He murmured in complete shock. He left the boy a few hours and now he somehow did something that Lodra had never seen before in his life.
The old man didn't budge from his place as he watched silently, waiting for what could happen next. And he was right, as soon enough, the particles stopped dancing before they accumulated in front of Redd in the shape of a huge, blue sphere.
The blue sphere then merged with Redd's chest, completely integrating with him. For a second, the whole room shone with a blue light. However, that light didn't last long before dissipating, leaving behind nothing but a lingering feeling of mysticism.
A few seconds later, Redd opened his eyes as he exhaled a long-awaited breath. Then, he looked up at Lodra before he spoke with a wide grin.
"I think I did it, Lodra."
"..."
"Lodra?" Redd murmured his name again to no avail. So, he stood up and approached the old man before he snapped his fingers in front of the man's face.
"OOOI, from Redd to Lodra, do you copy?" He said in a joking tone.
That seemed to wake up the old man from his trance as he blinked and looked at Redd. "Boy, what the hell did you do?"
"Hm? I think I got it… How to manipulate Aether, I mean. Look." Saying that Redd closed his eyes for a second before a blue halo appeared around his body. Particles of Aether pulsated around him like a heart pumping blood.
'Since when did Aether react like that to manipulation? It's as if it's…' That's when it hit Lodra.
"Kid… Don't tell me. It worked?"
Redd opened his eyes before he said with a smile. "Yeah! It took some time and effort but now I think I can control the Aether however I want."
"How… did you pull that off?"
No, that question didn't even make sense. How the hell did Aether even allow for such a thing to happen? This was something that nobody in the Hunter's Dream, not even the strongest of individuals could do. They all had to go by the Aether's rules as much as they had to go by the Hunter's Dream rules. That worked as a constant reminder to everyone that no matter how strong you are, you're still below the Hunter's Dream.
However, this kid had somehow broken that rule.
"Oh? It was a little hard. But, when I realized what I had to do, it became a lot easier."
"And what did you do?"
"I just asked the Aether nicely," Redd said with a grin.
Lodra blinked.
"Pardon me? You did what?"
"As I said, I just asked the Aether to nicely listen to me. It took some convincing but I was able to pull it off. Aether is really cocky, you know. But, with some persuasion, it listened and now it works for me."
"You communicated with Aether?" Lodra asked with a weird expression. He doesn't even know how to react to this ridiculousness anymore.
"Not communicate in a sense as Aether doesn't speak. But, I was able to convey what I wanted to it and it listened."
'So he simply asked it nicely and it worked? Just like that? How does that even make any sense? Wait…' Brushing his beard with his hand, Lodra thought about it.
The people in the Hunter's Dream were told that they could only accept the Aether rather than try to make it their own. Everyone was raised on that fact so nobody tried to do it in a different way. And even those who did, either gave up after a few hundred attempts at most, thinking that it was indeed impossible, or just couldn't handle the sheer pressure of doing it.
But, nobody, at least no one Lodra knows of, had decided to actually try and convince Aether. Everyone forgets that Aether has its own will and desire. Granted, nobody knew what that desire was, but it did exist.
'So, why would it listen if the people that try to use it look at it as if it's nothing? as if it's just a form of energy?'
His eyes then looked back at Redd and he could only suck in a deep breath.
Redd was a very simple child. He was also very pure inside and out. Perhaps that was the reason Aether accepted his will because he harbors no ill intentions.
"Boy, I think you just changed everything," Lodra said with a dazed look.
"Huh?"