The village chief continued his explanation. "Before I get into how to form your innate element you all need to understand exactly what an innate element actually is. It is basically a part of everyone from birth, every living being possesses a little bit of their innate element the moment they are born. This small bit of innate element is what keeps increasing, eventually forming your innate element."
A hand shot into the sky, it was Nash.
He quickly earned a nod from the village chief and started talking. "You say all living beings possess a bit of innate element from birth. But does, let's take an insect for example, possess the same amount of innate element from birth as a human does?"
This question earned another pleased look from the village chief. "Yet another good question Nash. Yes, all living beings are born with the same level of innate element inside of them, and as a follow up to this, all beings too have their own innate elements which they can eventually form."
The village chief looked around the classroom to see if there were any more questions, when he saw none he continued. "Alright, now let's start the explanation on how the innate element is formed. It's simple really, killing."
This sent a wave of shock through the classroom. It was killing, again.
"It works the same as normal Flow, absorbing part of the innate element the other person possesses. It does not matter if the living being is an insect, human or a boar they will all gain you innate element depending on how much the being you kill has. When you kill enough, and gain enough innate element you will eventually form your innate element."
Kes quickly understood why his mother thought it was not a good idea to start teaching a bunch of teenagers about their innate elements. They would start taking dumb risks, like going into the forest to hunt a boar, and end up dying there because it would be too much for them.
But Kes quickly realized something else. Unlike normal Flow, which could be gained by strengthening the body or meditation, innate element could only be gained by killing. This resulted in herbivores being absolutely useless to kill for innate element gain, they did not kill a lot so they would not yield a lot of innate element either.
This meant to effectively form his innate element fast he would have to fight carnivores, ones who were probably a whole lot stronger and deadlier than him.
Humans had the advantage of advanced intelligence, and he could also hunt in a group. As long as he got the final hit he would be the one to rapidly gain both Flow and innate element.
But he quickly disregarded hunting for now, he was not even strong enough to face a wild boar let alone a carnivore who had potentially formed an innate element of their own. Swatting flies would have to do for now.
He still had some questions of his own though, so he quickly raised his hand.
The village chief nodded, so he asked his question. "How much innate element does someone need to have before they form their innate element?"
The village chief sighed. "There is simply no way to put a number on it, we do believe it is the same amount for every different innate element. Innate ash shouldn't take longer to form than innate sand for example. It should also take the same amount for every single person, there is no such thing as a being born with a better affinity to their innate element, just a being with a better affinity for killing."
Another hand shot into the air, it was Riku this time.
The village chief nodded. "If there is no way to put a number on it, how is someone able to tell when they have formed their innate element?" Riku asked.
"It is quite simple, just close your eyes and try to look towards the middle of your forehead. When you do this you should be able to see a circle taking shape. Some of you who have killed a lot before might see a little bit of a curved line, though I doubt any of you have. Most of you who have swatted some insects before might be able to make out a small dot, and some will not be able to see anything at all. When this circle is fully formed, you will be able to utilize your accumulated innate element to turn your Flow into your innate element."
Kes along with the rest of the class instantly closed their eyes.
He tried looking towards the middle of his forehead. He had farmed a lot and thus swatted a lot of insects so he allowed himself to be a bit hopeful. But at the same time he had never noticed anything there before, it wasn't like he had tried to look at the middle of his forehead with his eyes closed before but he felt like he must have noticed something before.
After focusing on where the middle of his forehead should have been he did find a small dot in the darkness. It was so small and faint that it was hard to imagine that this dot would one day grow into the circle that was his innate element. But he was glad there was at least something there.
He quickly opened his eyes to look at his friend, Nash. He was very interested in what progression his friend had already made before him. But when he looked next to him he saw Nash with both his eyes open and a calm expression on his face. Like he suspected his parents must have already taught him this.
He wondered if Viola and Cantor had taken him on hunts too, taking down a carnivore together and letting Nash land the final blow. But he quickly dismissed the idea, this would not only gain him a lot of innate element but a lot of Flow too. And as far as Kes could tell he had not gained an excessive amount of Flow yet. This could also just be him suppressing his Flow very well, but Kes doubted he was that good at suppressing his Flow yet.
Kes then quickly looked around the class to see the expressions of the others.
Most had neutral expressions, but some were happy or seemed disappointed. Kes wondered how much of it was a facade and really wished he got better at detecting others emotions through Flow so he could gauge everyone's innate element levels relative to his own.
He then quickly looked at the village chief who wore a sinister smile on his face which made Kes flinch. At that moment Kes could tell the village chief knew just about how much innate element all of the students possessed just from their emotions alone.
'My mom really was right, I really need to be wary of him. I wonder what he's hiding.'
Quickly after thinking this he felt the village chiefs gaze turning on him. This made Kes shudder.
The village chief smiled, less sinister this time. "Unlike normal Flow, which can be gauged by people who are really good at reading other people's Flow, the amount of innate element a person possesses is impossible to tell from the outside. So, the only person who knows how much innate element someone possesses is themselves. This is why the strongest people do not go around sharing how much innate element they possess. They might flaunt their normal Flow, though they usually suppress this too, but their innate element stays strictly secret."
Kes made note of this for the future. Although it might not be important for now he understood why people hid their innate element amount. For normal Flow you could just go out there and kill beasts, but if someone who was not that strong was found with a large amount of innate element they would definitely be targeted.
So he also understood why most people would not fight with or openly show that they had formed their innate element. This would basically confirm them as a juicy prey that had passed a certain threshold of innate element. Their innate element would only be used when going up against very strong opponents they could not defeat without it. You never knew who was watching and who to trust.
Their village was tightly knit, and the members had trust in each other. So most people here would announce to the village when they had formed their innate element like the village chief, Nora or even Cher, who the village chief had just confirmed to have the innate obsidian element. But it was different outside the village.
The villagers also wouldn't go around shouting who had formed what innate element to the traveling caravans, this had two reasons. The first being that if the outside were to know how many people had formed their innate element, sinister people might raid the village in search of becoming stronger. And the second one being that if their forces were revealed the attacker would know with how much strength they needed to attack.
Revealing strength was a funny thing really, on one hand it could deter people from attacking, if they knew the village was just that strong no one would dare to lay a hand on it. But by not revealing strength one made their enemy guess how strong they themselves were which could also deter attacks.
'I better think well about when to reveal how strong I am if I ever get strong in the future.' Kes thought to himself, his thought pattern becoming a bit too complicated.
The village chief continued his explanation, his face shifting into a more serious expression again. "Alright, now that all of you have a first idea of what exactly an innate element is I want to once again make one thing very clear. Do not, and I repeat do not, go out hunting on your own trying to increase your own innate element. All of you, yes even you Nash and Ade, are not strong enough for most of the beasts in the forest alone yet. And even if you were, you would still hunt in a group just in case you run into something very dangerous."
"I must also mention that it would just be redundant to go around killing a lot of weak beasts or going around swatting a lot of insects. Doing this would just be a waste of your time. It would be much better for your growth to just continue becoming more proficient at controlling Flow for now."
The serious expression on the village chief's face faded, being replaced by a smile. "But that does not mean we won't be hunting anything soon. I have asked Cantor to take us into the forest, two months from now. So we can all go on our first hunt together then. In the meantime focus on improving your strength and senses so you will be able to do more on this hunt. Think of this hunt as a test of sorts. But remember until then no one will enter the forest to go hunting by themselves; this will result in suspension."
The village chief seemed to be eying Nash and Ade specifically.
He then turned around and started walking towards the exit. "Alright that's the lesson for today, you can all go home and work on your Flow control or something."
Kes sighed. Even though this class usually was a lot longer he felt like he had learned a lot more in this lesson alone than in the rest of his time at the academy.
He was excited to form his innate element in the future, but he would make sure to heed the village chief's words, he would not go out hunting alone. He just hoped everyone in the class would do the same thing.