Elias Ardane
"That's a good one @GravediggerUnboxing. At first, it was very weird. It changes some things that you really don't think about. For instance, if I want to sleep on my back, I need a specific type of mattress. But uniquely enough, it doesn't get in the way of sitting. But in a more mechanical sense, it feels like it was always a part of me. I never had any issues not being able to control it, or not being aware of where it was located. My best bet as the reason is that the Ascension also rewired my brain a little bit to make that a bit easier," Hera replied.
"Now one from..." Becca paused and turned to the crew behind the camera. "Really?" she got a nod and sighed. "@Beccaslovelygrippers, and I really hope it's a different Becca. They ask if you have to shed skin like a snake."
Hera nodded, trying to disguise a smile. "I do, but I'm still not entirely sure if it is a seasonal thing or if that only happens in response to something else. The only time I had to shed was after I got hit by a very nasty blow. Even after healing, the scales around the wound started to peel off. I burned the skin because I really didn't know what I should do with it. But I'm open to suggestions. If I can look past the weirdness and the grossness of it all, it would be very metal to wear an armor made of my own skin."
Becca blinked slowly while staring at Hera. "That is a sentence I never imagined I would hear."
"But am I wrong, though?"
"You're not wrong, but the fact that your mind went there kind of worries me," Becca replied, getting a couple of laughs from the crowd. She took a look at her tablet and saw the next question. "This next question comes from someone in the audience. Would you be willing to have an entire family joining the Ophidianite species?"
"I would," Hera didn't even hesitate. "But I admit that I would ask if they are applying individually or as a group. It is possible that one of the family members could be a bad fit. In that case, the rejection of one or everyone will depend on how they applied to join."
"Would that include small children?" Becca went for a follow-up.
"No. And I have confirmed that. Even if it was somehow possible to give a child the Naga or the Ophidianite skill on the rank needed for the ascension, in order to go through the Ascension you need to be at least level two, which also would translate to being at least 18," Hera explained.
"I have another question. This one comes from me. How do you know all that? Did you have a manual or a long explanation in the notification?"
Hera knew she couldn't talk about Tara. She had asked about that and the rules were the same as talking to the guides. "During the Ascension, I was able to ask questions and receive answers from the System. I got the same opportunity once I received the ability to ascend for the first time."
"Are you able to get more details from the system?"
"I haven't tried, but it should be possible. Worst-case scenario, we can get more information once the next person is ascending, as long as they are also given the opportunity to ask questions about that. I would also like to add that during the entire process, you have several chances to give up. The system will ask you again and again if you are sure you want to continue, and until the very last step, you have the option to say no and just give it up. But I am not sure if giving up would have any ramifications," Hera continued.
There was a noise from the left which snapped Blue out of her trance. She had been watching Hera's interview over and over again since the broadcast a week ago, focusing on all the parts about being an Ophidianite. The controller knew she would never ascend while her brother and sister couldn't go to the MAZE, but after that, going through that process was a very real possibility.
"Sorry for the wait. The book was deeper in my bag," a voice followed the noise.
"That's ok, Mr. Ardane. You are already helping me so much. You don't need to worry about making me wait a little," Blue replied, putting her tablet away. She was currently at Wildborn's house, where Elias Ardane had just arrived. Before even setting things up properly, the man asked for Blue so he could start teaching her the skill.
"Please, call me Elias. We're going to be working very close together now. We should be comfortable," Elias said with a smile. He was an older man with thin round glasses, a short untrimmed white beard forming a line around his jaw, and thin hair hidden by a knitted cap. He wasn't the most muscular man, but did look fit. Then again, that was somewhat common for people who traveled through the MAZE often. It was hard not to stay in shape when physical prowess was a requirement for survival.
"Thank you," Blue smiled.
"Now, if you don't mind, could I see how far you've gotten with the construction of your arm?" Elias asked, already pulling up a small notebook and his tablet to make some notes.
"Sure, but keep in mind that I'm cheating a little bit," Blue replied. She moved to start working, but Elias spoke up.
"What do you mean by that?"
Blue frowned, thinking if she should say something. But she quickly decided not to worry about it. After all, what else could they take from her?
"A lot of people already know about this, but I had a legacy. Morgan threatened me to give it to him, but when I did that, I got a title. I don't know why. Some people are saying that it's about having the Legacy for just a few years before giving it to someone else, but I don't know. Anyway, the title makes it easy for me to learn skills related to one specific element. In this case, clouds."
"How much easier?" Elias asked with a frown.
"This much," Blue turned to her stump. Doing this while looking at the mana being created was much easier. The controller slowly let the cloud form around her arm. Initially, it didn't have a set shape, being just a blob that wrapped around her arm. But little by little, something started to appear. It wasn't an arm, not really. Anyone watching it would see more of an appendage, closer to a tentacle than anything else.
"That... is amazing. The people I've tried teaching this to usually took months to get to this level. If you don't mind me asking, what rank is the skill that lets you do that already?"
"I actually have two skills doing this. The first is Mana Construct. It's a basic skill to make things out of mana skill. But the problem is that it's static. Or at least, as static as clouds can be. I can't move this. Not really. I mean, I can do this," Blue triggered a simple gust of wind spell and made the cloud construction shift, "But that's because of the cloud, not because of me."
Elias nodded while rubbing his beard and looking at the cloud tentacle a bit too closely. "I see. You mentioned a second skill. Am I correctly assuming that is the second skill that allows you to turn this into a cloud?"
"You are. The construct I'm making is out of pure Mana, like it said on the book you sent me. Then I'm using this other skill to convert it into a cloud."
Elias pulled back and grabbed his notebook. Flipping through a few pages before stopping, "I understand your intention with that. But you said that you are getting skills based on clouds more easily, right?"
"Right," Blue nodded.
"Very well, very well. This means we should change the method of acquiring the skills," Elias replied.
"What, why?" Blue frowned and tried to cross her arms, but it was hard to do that with one hand.
"You see, you have a unique benefit of getting skills related to clouds more easily. Yet, you yourself are not using that benefits. Think about it. The Skill will allow you to gain a new limb to replace the one you've lost. It's not related to clouds. Hence, by using the skin to create constructs made out of pure Mana, you deprive yourself of the very best tool you have at your disposal," Elias gesticulated a lot while talking, almost smacking a cup that was on a nearby table more than once during this short statement.
"Well, I figured I should start making the constructs like this and then figure out how to make the limbs out of clouds to get the skill," Blue defended herself.
Elias sighed. "Do you write with your left or your right hand?"
"My right hand. I can still write, at least," Blue glanced at her stump.
"And have you ever tried learning how to write with your left hand?" Elias asked.
Blue gestured to her missing arm. "And how am I supposed to do that?"
"I mean, before you lost your arm, child. Have you ever attempted to learn something that you had already learned before? To learn something in a different way than what you've learned in the past."
Blue stopped to think for a moment. "I'm not sure. Probably something about fighting that I didn't really get before. But I can't think of anything specific right now." She paused. "Actually, no. I had some issues when I first got my Legacy... My old legacy. Some of the spells that I used just didn't work the same way. It took me a while to get used to the new way they were behaving because of my new skill."
"Exactly!" Elias almost jumped, pushing his face very close to Blue's, "If you were to learn how to create a limb made out of Mana only to then try to change it, it would be much, much more difficult. If your desire is to have an arm made out of the very clouds that fly in the sky, you need to start with those clouds. Otherwise, your learning experience will hinder you in the future."
Blue took a step back to get some distance between the two. "Okay. I think I understand what you mean. But if you don't mind, can you respect my personal space? I'm still not very comfortable being around people. And also, clouds don't fly. They float. They are lighter than air. That's why they can stay up there."
Elias took a step back. "Ah, yes. My apologies. I did not mean to scare you. But I'm afraid this old skeleton who moves my skin does enjoy the spooky season of Halloween," he smiled and winked at Blue, while doing some strange quick dance with his arms, trying to seem cheerful.
"But... It's March," the controller tilted her head.
Seeing his attempt at a joke didn't work, Elias cleared his throat. "Nevertheless. If you wish that your new limb is created from a cloud, we must start the whole process considering the clouds."
Blue nodded. "Okay. And do you have any idea how to do that? I was trying to use the same basis of a mana reinforcement, but without anything to reinforce it, it just didn't work."
Elias flipped through his notebook until he found the start of a specific section. "Here, child! I have a number of people who also wanted their names to come from specific elements. Unfortunately, we were unable to find a blueprint that worked for all of them. But there are unique methods for each element that we can explore."
"That's nice. How many elements have you been able to do that with?" Blue leaned over to see the notebook. The page was strangely empty, with just a couple of lines written down in really awful handwriting.
"Together with my students, I have been able to complete this with a grand total of two distinct elements! More precisely, they were able to complete this. This means that half of my students chose this unique path." Elias replied.
"Wait... how many people actually tried to get that mana limb skill?" Blue frowned.
"I have looked for people capable of learning this skill across the MAZE. In the process, four people became my students and learned this magnificent skill. This makes you my fifth apprentice."
Blue did her best not to frown. When Wildborn talked about this skill, she figured it was something more well-established. But apparently, it was as experimental as they come. Then again, it was only a few things she still could do while living with her parents. The controller had already decided that she would return to the MAZE, but she couldn't. Not right now. The memories of what happened were still fresh, and the fear that came along with them was very much there.
But if she was able to create a new arm, and maybe even more than one, she would feel safer once it was time to return. All she could do was hope she moved fast enough not to be left behind by her friends.