As they entered the city, they made their way to an inn to stay at for the next few days. Glenn headed to the mercenary guild to look for a new job while Derry and Arnold went shopping for essentials.
Joren, Pantera, and Lenny were all at the inn relaxing. Lenny was in his own room while Pantera and Joren shared one. He was sitting on the bed meditating as he wanted to get an element, the lightning element.
Joren had always been fascinated by the elements and thought it would be cool to control. His favorite show was about a person who controlled four elements and had to save the world, so Joren would sometimes act like that person in his head.
"What are you doing?" Pantera asked.
"Absorbing lightning mana." He casually replied back.
Pantera looked at Joren with a stunned expression before she busted out laughing. She rolled over on her bed, kicking her legs in a wild manner while punching her pillow. "The lightning element? What, after getting beat by that bastard you decide to want the lightning element?"
"Yeah. What's so funny about that?"
"You do know you can't simply go 'I want the lightning element so let me start cultivating for it.' Gaining an element can take years, especially if you're not a noble with a family treasure or cultivation method. Gaining an element comes from enlightenment, not effort." She knew of his fast learning speed and his vast amounts of mana, but she also knew certain things still take time no matter how much of a genius a person is.
"Wanna bet?" Smirking, Joren stopped meditating and faced Pantera.
"Oh, what are we betting? Because If I win, I have something in mind." She licked her lips seductively.
"You can make the terms and conditions 'cause I'll win anyway."
"Confident are we? Okay. If you can get the lightning element by tomorrow morning I'll let Derry have you all to herself for a week. But if you fail, I get to have you all to myself for a week and have lots of fun." Pantera didn't hide what she wanted. Joren also knew what she wanted. The only reason why he never crossed the line with her was because he wanted to focus on building himself up first. Once his mercenary journey comes to an end, he plans on making Derry and Pantera his.
"That doesn't really benefit me y'know."
"I know. But I don't care." She walked over to his bed and kissed him on the lips. "I just want you and that's all that matters to me."
"Fine, I accept your terms, but don't be upset when you lose." He turned around and got back in the lotus position.
"Fufu, we'll see handsome."
Joren viewed all the mana particles that danced in the air. He saw a multitude of colors and the basic white mana color. Focusing on the purple mana, he willed his only for that to enter his body while he pushed the other mana particles aside.
The amount of lightning mana that entered his body was far less than the normal amount of mana he was used to. He would normally absorb all types of mana so cutting that down by...a lot would take some use getting to.
'Uncle Glenn said that you would need to absorb the elemental mana until the mana ring takes on that property, then you would need to keep absorbing it until the mana core also takes on that property. Only then could I use the lightning element.'
For the next few hours, Joren absorbed vast amounts of lightning mana. Because of his cultivation method, he could absorb tons of mana at a rapid pace. While he wasn't absorbing as much mana as he usually did, he was still absorbing a ton of lightning mana, more than what a person would absorb once they awaken their element, or at least that's what he assumed.
He guided the mana all throughout his body to make it familiar with the element. He then absorbed it into his mana circle and filled it up with lightning mana. The process was similar to normal cultivation, the only difference is that he isn't cultivating to break through but to change the property of his mana. The process was like painting over something.
As the lightning mana was absorbed throughout his entire body, he could feel his mana ring start to change.
'Is it undergoing a transformation?' He questioned, feeling the lightning mana slowly taking over his mana ring. He felt small jolts of electricity akin to rubbing your feet on the floor and tapping someone, and after a few minutes, the feeling stopped.
'Hmm, is that it? Well, now I just need to-' His entire body started convulsing as if he was being electrocuted. Lightning surged throughout his body, shocking every part of him. His mana ring exploded with lightning mana and started seeping into his core.
From an outside perspective, it would look like he was having a seizure, and that's what it looked like when Pantera saw Joren spazzing out.
"Joren? Joren!" She ran over to him, attempting to hold his body upright, but as soon as she touched him, a bolt of lightning shocked her hand, forcing her to pull back. "No way! He actually cultivated the lightning element! Dammit! You better thank me, Derry!' Knowing that he wasn't in any danger, she went back to her bed.
Three hours later, Joren finally stopped shaking like a madman. Along the way, he had passed out from the pain of being electrocuted internally. When he woke up, he could feel the changes in his body. While he didn't feel stronger, he felt like he had more power. It was similar to the feeling of lifting heavy weights and then picking up something light.
"I did it! Holy fuck I did it!" Joren felt his mana circle and core radiating with lightning mana. He also saw how his previous white core had turned purple. "I should be able to use lightning now." He closed his eyes and envisioned what he wanted to do. He used his mana the way he always did but this time, putting lightning on it.
*CRACKLE!* As he coated mana around his hand, he willed for his lightning to follow, and just like he envisioned, his entire hand was covered in lightning mana. "Amazing!" He thought. Mana balls, mana arrows, mana bullets, and even the weapons he makes could all turn into lightning. "Oh, I can't wait to go to the Academy so I can learn magic!"
Over the past month, Joren learned that besides Derry and Pantera, the others didn't really know spells. They used their power in the form of martial arts and the spells that they did know were to aid in their martial arts.
Pantera, who knows spells, uses healing magic and has the wood element which has healing properties. She is usually a support fighter and doesn't really engage in combat outside of healing or the typical trapping someone in vines.
Derry on the other hand knows tons of Arcane magic. She loves studying all types of magic and wants to become an Arcane specialist. Joren had asked her if she wanted to become the strongest water mage as well but she said 'Fuck water magic' which shocked him to the core. How could a water mage hate water magic? He didn't know, all she told him was that Arcane magic is better and she only uses water magic if she needs to.
"Alright! Let's go see the look on Pantera's face when she learns I have the lightning element now." He had noticed that she wasn't in the room, but he also noticed that it was now evening so she was probably eating dinner with the others. He headed downstairs and walked to the dining area where his friends were sitting.