Elemental Control - Guiding and Release

The next 3 holograms showcased the Subconscious control, showing the caster use pre-configured commands in the form of magic spells, arrays, and curses. There were 3 subtypes demonstrated: Specific, Random, and Area.

Once again, it showed to the students the benefits of magic spells, arrays, and curses, as they only needed to assemble them once and launch them for it to function. However, there is a lack of control to what the spell would turn into later on, as it has been predetermined; the release of the spell indicates that it has been completed and the commands are finalized.

Any modification would lead to a collapse and ultimately, the spell destroys itself. It is therefore rigid, and generally great if one plans to place defensive and offensive arrays or magic spells in their residence as a defense or for hunting targets.

The last 3 holograms showcased the Biconscious control, showing the caster actively commanding the elements, and every command activates a series of magic spells, arrays, or curses.

Under specific subtype control, fire and wood elements are controlled, and after a few movements, the elements activated in an orderly fashion similar to a magic spell being cast.

Under random subtype, random elements that were influenced by the elements the caster could control activated on their own after a few movements, releasing the strength of a magic spell that seemed familiar, but ultimately different due to the change elemental composition of the spell.

The last subtype, Area, was shown with the Caster restricting the movement of elements in the target area, before causing all of them to attack the target inside the area in a systematic form. After the videos ended, Ms. Amelia looked at the students and said,

"Today and until the end of the week, you will be practicing with 2 sparring partners. You can select your sparring partners within 2 minutes. Time starts... now."

Immediately the class was thrown into a frenzy; most of the people who knew each other after three weeks of class did not hesitate to choose one another as their sparring partners. The guys were shamelessly inviting the girls who were not yet in a group, who had no choice but to join their groups.

The only difference was that no one had attempted to pair up with Xander, not even the girls that found him cute. They felt if they did that, they would lose their motivation to cultivate, ok? Not because they might get arrested for pinching Xander's cheeks and hugging him with their developing breasts, suffocating him.

Of course, there were 2 girls who approached Xander; Maryann and Valerie. It was Maryann who approached Xander, waking him up groggily.

"Hmm? Wha-?" Xander mumbled, rubbing his eyes. The other girls seeing this could help but giggle. Xander was so cute! It was like he was disturbed from his nappy time.

"Hey, Xander, can you be my sparring partner for the lesson today?" Maryann asked shyly. Xander looked at Maryann for a period of time, causing Maryann's face to blush. She wasn't used to people staring at her face for a long time. After a while, Xander nodded his head in agreement.

Maryann was elated. She had wholeheartedly believed that Xander would be able to greatly guide her in controlling external elements. Valerie, seeing this, also asked Xander and Maryann if she could be part of their pair. Xander didn't care, so he nodded. Maryann, seeing Xander didn't have any qualms, also agreed to Valerie's request to join.

After 2 minutes, the class of 120 was grouped into 40 groups of 3. Seeing this, Ms. Amelia began to speak again to the groups.

"Ok, now head to the other side of the room, and choose a spot. make sure you are 2 meters away from another group. You may begin practicing by:

1. Attempt to control an element outside your body. Once you have a strong, conscious control of the element, attempt the subtypes.

2. Attempt to use subconscious control of elements by casting your magic spell. While casting your magic spell, attempt modifying the incantation, or modifying the flow of magic energy. Target your sparring partners only. This is a form of combat training as well.

3. Attempt to do a biconscious control of elements. Try not to target your classmates, and target your sparring partners. This is a form of combat training as well.

4. Do not use the subtype Area for subconscious and biconscious control of elements in this sparring session, unless they are non-offensive kind of spells. You can be prosecuted by the university's internal council community if severe injuries have been documented.

5. For advanced learners, try to practice wrestling the control of the caster of the elements to your own. After getting a hang out of it, attempt to do it without alerting the caster.

Do you have any questions?"

Xander raised his hand, asking nonchalantly,

"If we accidentally injure our sparring partners, we can just heal them right there and then, and we would be off the hook?"

Ms. Amelia was taken aback by his question, and so were the other students, even Maryann and Valerie. She thought about it for a while, and said,

"Well, technically, yes, since the injuries aren't present anymore, but-" she was interrupted by Xander's voice.

"Ok great! Is it also the case if I accidentally kill my classmates, as long as I can resurrect them, I wouldn't have any problems?" Xander asked innocently, causing everyone who heard it to feel a shiver down their spines.

"Er, I, well, I think that's not allowed, Mr. Cloverfield. You know that Resurrection is iffy magic and doesn't guarantee 100% perfect restoration. So, if there are still hints of severely damaged internal organs or mental function, you can still be prosecuted both by the school and by the family of the affected," Ms. Amelia stumbled a bit in the beginning, before calmly responding to Xander's inquiry.

"Oh. No killing, I got it." Xander said seriously, nodding his head. Iffy resurrection? How was that even possible for him? He'd simply reverse the time or even cut the time of death out, meaning it never existed. He had tried it on both animals and plants. How different could it be for humans?

Although he had these thoughts, he didn't bother speaking out. Xander then turned to the two girls, and asked them seriously,

"Do you want me to retaliate while you two girls are sparring with me, to make it more realistic, or do you want me just to point out problems in your form, casting, and control?" Valerie and Maryann were taken aback, before thinking and consulting with one another.

After a few moments of whispering and thinking, both of them said:

"I think you should retaliate. But limit it to Elite-class magic spells only! No self-made spells." After hearing this, Xander thought about it for a moment, and nodded.

"Ok, let's begin. First, do the conscious control of elements." Xander began, raising one of his eyebrows. Immediately, an invisible wind moved about the area where the trio were, causing a bit of a ruckus.

The winds were caused by the elemental particles moving at a very high speed, so anyone who experienced the wind would have felt the different properties of elements present: burning, cold, shocking, suffocating, heavy, rejuvenating, poisonous, restoring, decaying, deathly, etc. Those who were around the group were shocked, and even Ms. Amelia, who was around ten meters away, could feel the fluctuation of elements.

Xander then put his eyebrows down, and the element fluctuation went down as well. Xander had not moved a single finger, just his eyebrows. Both Maryann and Valerie were shocked and had a trace of joy; they were truly correct in choosing Xander as a sparring partner! They would probably learn a lot.

"That's a conscious control of elements. What I showcased was the subtypes of specific, area, and random. I controlled specific elements that caused the surrounding elements to follow their lead, creating an area effect. This is optimal if you want to cast an area of effect or specific magic spell, because it can effectively confuse the target. He or she would think this was an area type of magic spell, but in truth, it is a specific magic spell and should have raised his or her magic barriers instead rather than escape the area."

"As you begin the conscious control of your primary elements, expand your senses and attempt to locate elements that are related to your primary elements, and attempt to make them resonate to the movement of elements under your control. How do you resonate from one element to another? One word: Representations. Use their common representation sections and activate it in your controlled element; once it is activated, it acts like a beacon for the other elements not under your control, to follow the controlled element."

"Go on, practice. You all are still too inexperienced to spar with me for real. I'll point out mistakes and possible improvements you can make as you practice." Xander motioned the two to begin practice.

Maryann and Valerie nodded seriously and began attempting their conscious control of their primary elements.

Maryann was experienced in such things because her elements were opposite to one another so she had begun testing them when she had reached Elite class. Although it caused a lot of injuries, it had improved her understanding of the 2 elements tremendously.

Ice. It was cold, very cold. It was the manipulation of molecular movement, causing the heat produced by the movement to decrease, to the point of solidifying liquids. In this case, the free-flowing water elements.

Fire. It was warm, it was painful to touch. It was the manifestation of heat in the physical realm. Fire is weakened by water, but ice is weakened by fire.

For both the elements, she easily gained control of them through her life essence doll. It was controlling them to do something or manipulating them, that was hard. She had to ensure that there were no conflicting movements between the two, or that they exist in parallel lines, never to touch or intersect.

"Good job Maryann. Since you know that ice is the manipulation of molecular movement or the manipulation of heat present in an object or area, why not control the heat produced by your fire elements without causing them to be extinguished? You would have better results in attempting to fuse the two if you get the concept."

Maryann's eyes widened, as if she had just realized something. She attempted to do what Xander had just said, channeling the heat of the fire, and continuously lowering the heat, without causing the flames to be extinguished. Although she kept failing, she felt it was feasible, and she continued to do it again and again. Seeing her determination, Xander nodded in approval. At least she isn't a quitter, Xander mused. He looked at Valerie and saw that she was having a bit of a problem and decided to give her some tips, just to do his part in this practice session.

Valerie, on the other hand, was not that experienced. Although she was lauded as a genius because she had 4 primary elements, she knew the difficult task she has ahead of her if she wanted to reach Master class and above.

Fire, Water, Poison, and Darkness element.

When she began to control Fire, Water, and Poison elements, she had an easy time focusing on them. She could even cause them to harmoniously move around and about. However, the moment she attempted to control the Darkness element, the other 3 elements would quickly lose control and became free-moving again. She was frustrated, because it kept happening over and over again; she couldn't add the darkness element as part of the 3 elements she could control!

When she was about to shout in anger, she heard a voice entering her ears,

"You're utilizing it the wrong way, Valerie. Attempt to have sufficient control of the Darkness element, before attempting the other 3 elements. The darkness element is the manifestation of the Yin in the Yin-Yang elements. It is a higher-order compared to the 5-elements and their derivatives."