Aryn slammed the butt of his staff on the ground causing several translucent green shields to appear in front of Rudolph who had let go of the black fireball.

BANG!

The fireball exploded with deafening noise and Rudolph was sent flying into the trees. Though the power of the blast was negated by the shields, the shockwaves were still powerful enough to make him cry out in pain.

"Rudy!" Aryn shouted and rushed to the place where Rudolph had landed.

His face turned pale when he saw the condition Rudolph was in. His left arm was mutilated, blood leaked from the gash on his forehead and his other arm was bent at an unnatural angle.

"Hold on!" Aryn said and sat beside him.

Green wisps of light escaped from his body and sank into Rudolph's torso through the hand he had placed on his chest, prompting the wounds to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Fuck!" Rudolph cursed, gritting his teeth.

His muscles constantly twitched and bulged as the light green Aether worked its magic on his injured body. His flesh wriggled and extended to restore his mutilated arm, the gash on his forehead closed and the bones in his broken arm started crackling into place.

One may think that healing was a soothing process but only Rudolph knew how unbearable it was. His constant urge to scratch and pull at his flesh was kept at bay only due to his high willpower.

'I'll be damned if I go down like this, Rudolph growled and clenched at the grass with his healed hand.

With the last of his bones falling into place, the Aether drilling in and out of Rudolph's body died out and Aryn fell butt first on the ground.

"That nearly sucked me dry," Aryn said. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he lay gasping for air.

For a couple of minutes, silence reigned through the forest except for the constant crackling of burning wood. A large chunk of trees had vanished from the forest while the near ones had caught fire.

"Is-Is this normal? Rudolph muttered as he stared at the sky in a daze.

Aryn had a similarly dazed expression as he replied after contemplating for a while, "Y-You devoured my Aether and incorporated it into the fireball. But-"

"But?" Rudolph asked upon seeing that Aryn had stopped speaking.

"It shouldn't be possible, theoretically it shouldn't be. But there's no other reason I could think of."

"Speak English Einstein." Rudolph rolled his eyes.

"English? Einstein?"

"That's not the point." Rudolph sat up.

"Can you tell me the stats of your Aether Mechanics?" Aryn asked.

Rudolph didn't know how it was related but gladly complied and opened up his stat screen. He was greeted by several notifications he had missed out on before.

DING! You have unlocked the skill [Unruly Acquisition] (Bloodline) (Active).

DING! You were harmed by the skill [Apocalypse Fireball] (Self).

DING! Your health has fallen below ⅓ of the total health.

DING! Your resistance to pain has increased.

DING! Your resistance to pain has increased.

DING! Your resistance to pain has reached Basic Il.

DING! You have received the title [The Arsonist].

'A new skill?' Rudolph was surprised when he read notifications. In addition to a cool-sounding skill, he had also received one not-so-cool-sounding title. He made a mental note of visiting the skill mechanism once this was over.

'That wasn't intentional.' Rudolph smiled helplessly but the soul archives didn't receive his justification.

He willed the notifications close and opened up the Aether Mechanics as urged by the green-eyed elf.

• Aether Mechanics

Free Stat Points: 0

Retention: 3

Assimilation: 2

Purity: 9

Restraint: 2

"I don't have the slightest of idea what any of those stat mean, except the purity stat which I only know to the extent of making a guess." Rudolph furrowed his brows as he explored the Aether Mechanics.

Rudolph stood up and extended a hand to the fallen elf who took it and got pulled up to his feet.

"What's your Restraint and Purity?" Aryn asked, wiping off the dust from his leather armor.

Rudolph eyed the elf in contempt.

'What a clean freak!' Rudolph complained in his mind.

Compared to the little bit of dirt on his armor, Rudolph's clothes were soiled to another level. His pants were smudged with mud and soot and smelt of algae while his shirt had burnt holes near the chest and the collar region. Even his hair wasn't spared from the discrimination as they were singed and had dry twigs stuck within them.

"What?" Aryn asked as he caught Rudolph staring at him.

"Nothing." Rudolph sighed and shook his head before answering, "Nine to the Purity and two to the Restraint."

"Hmm, just as I thought," Aryn said.

"You are doing it again," Rudolph complained, rolling his eyes at Aryn.

Aryn took a deep breath before continuing, "Your Aether Purity far outweighs your Aether Restraint and that's why you weren't able to control your fireball."

"But that's just one thing. It might be because of your high affinity with the fire element and dark element or quite possibly with both of them that made your fireball transform into something else entirely."

"I see," Rudolph said and placed a finger on his lips.

"So if I put more points in restraint, it should help me gain better control over the fireball?" Rudolph asked.

"Yes."

"So the mystery is solved?"

"No, nothing's solved. I still don't get how you were able to absorb my aether and affect the outside aether to such a degree."

Rudolph stopped, hesitated, and asked in a skeptical voice, "Could it be because of the other skill I learned?"

"What skill?"

"I don't know. I might have gotten it before the explosion or after it but it was there when I checked the notifications." Rudolph said, "In addition, I also received two titles and a notification informing me of a rank up in my pain resistance."

"What skill? What title?" Aryn was puzzled at Rudolph's answer.

"I forgot the name. Let me check." Aryn said and opened the Skill Mechanics for the first time.

• Skill Mechanics

[Identification] [Mana Sense] [Apocalypse Fireball] [Unruly Acquisition]

"It's called, Unruly Acquisition," Rudolph informed.

"Unruly Acquisition?" Aryn wrinkled his forehead when he heard the name of an unfamiliar skill. "Look at its description. Just willing it to appear should do it."

Rudolph obliged and willed to see the skill's description.

[Unruly Acquisition] (Bloodline) (Skill) (Active)

Description: Your attempt to control aether had awakened a trace of the ancient bloodline sealed within your body, granting you the ability to utilize aether without assimilating it within your body.

Since he was at it, he also decided to inspect the other skill he had recently acquired.

[Apocalypse Fireball] (Iron) (Skill) (Active)

Description: A fireball created from the merger of fire and dark aether. In addition to explosive damage, it also provides recurring damage in form of burns. Its damage surpasses ordinary fireballs of the same rank. May cause slight debuff to the opponent in terms of a small decrease in health regeneration.

"So cool!" Rudolph exclaimed, his eyes glittering as he read the skill description. Now, this was something he had dreamt of as a kid, throwing fireballs around and destroying things.

"What is cool?" Aryn asked.

"The skills. They are awesome." Rudolph said and shared the description with Aryn who frowned upon hearing them.

"No, that's not cool. That's dangerous," he said.

"How come they are dangerous? Seems pretty safe to me. Except for that fireball skill but even if that is handled correctly, it will become a great weapon."

"It's not the fireball skill that's dangerous. Sure, blowing yourself out is... no it's normal but getting power hungry and becoming a psycho is even worse."

"I don't get it." Rudolph scratched his nose.

"Do you know why the soul archives were created? The real reason for its creation?" Aryn asked.

"Duh! I just got to know the thing existed like ten minutes ago."

Aryn ignored the ridicule and explained "The real reason the gods created soul archives was to tame the wild aether, purify it of the nefariousness it carries and use it to empower the people of the universe. "

"So it isn't the soul archives that provide the people with power but the aether itself?" Rudolph asked as he picked up dirt from the ground and threw it on the burning bushes.

"Yes, the system is just built in place to keep track of the life forms in the universe and their ability and turn the aether into useful powers."

Aryn waved his hand and deeply buried roots emerged from the ground, dumping a large amount of mud onto the burning trees. Only a large crater was left behind marking the place of the explosion.

"Trust me, Rudy, the history doesn't favor those who held the uncanny. All those people had suffered from a change in their personalities, becoming mindless killers and psychopaths who stopped at nothing to gain the power they desired. Such people are frowned upon in the entire universe as they are just ticking time bombs that can explode anytime, plunging the world into chaos.

"I can't stop you from the path you walk but as a friend, I don't want you to die or worse, become one of those psychopaths." He placed a hand on Rudolph's shoulder and started walking in the direction they had previously determined.

Rudolph stood rooted in the same place evaluating what he had just heard.

'So does it mean I can't use that skill? If what Aryn had said was true, I shouldn't use that skill lest I turn into a demon.' Rudolph made up his mind and went after Aryn.

"Ok. I will restrain myself." Rudolph said and caught up to Aryn. "Until necessary."

The last sentence was said in a faint voice that didn't reach the Elf's ears.

--------------------------------

Rudolph and Aryn picked up the pace and proceeded deeper into the forest. They had lost time and had a lot of ground to make till they arrive at the high-tiered essence crystal sites located in the center of the Sanctuary. As told by Aryn, the real reason the hunt was organized in the first place was to allow the younger generation a chance at gathering the essence crystals spread across the sanctuary. Not only will it help them to increase their understanding and increase the affinity of the particular essence crystal they found, but It will also be helpful to them once they had established a path.

The word 'affinity', had also become a nightmare for Rudolph when he had checked the effects of his titles while weaving through the forest that was becoming a lot thicker as they progressed. Their descriptions had made him cry in sorrow when he had first seen them.

• Titles

[The Visitor]

Description: As you had opened the soul archives on a foreign world, your affinity with the aether of that world decreased by 20% and you lose 20% control over the aether until you get affiliated with the said foreign world.

[The Arsonist]

Description: Whatever you touch burns to flames. Your affinity with fire increases by 2% and your affinity with life magic decrease by 15%.

Rudolph was still reeling from the shock he had received upon inspecting his titles when they arrived in front of a stream that fell from a nearby waterfall. The crystalline pure water had a group of animals – or beasts in Aryn's words – drinking from it.

Rudolph used his identification skill on one of them but this time he didn't say it out loud but just thought of using the skill in his mind, which to his surprise, worked brilliantly.

Overall combat strength: 160

Steel hide Hyena

HP: 60/60