Elemental Seeds

Elemental seeds were something similar to the Origin seed because they represented one's understanding of the elemental laws. But other than that, everything else was totally different.

There are a total of six basic ethereal elemental seeds; Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Metal, Lightning.

And these seeds would take the form of their respective attributes. The Fire Seed would have a fiery and hot attribute; The Water Seed would have a dynamic but constantly changing flow; The Wind Seed would have the attributes of a tempest; The Earth Seed would have the attributes of nature; The Metal Seed would have a lustrous nature; The Lightning seed would have a glaring wild nature.

But generally, when people form their basic ethereal core, these elemental seeds wouldn't have taken form fully. So, one would usually know if they have any talent for any elements when they have themselves tested by the experts.

But one can also focus on their own ethereal core and try to discern the element they are talented in.

But it would be very hard for someone who only began their cultivation since the elemental seeds haven't even taken basic form yet; however, if they are really talented in an element, they might be able to realize it themselves once they focus on their ethereal core.

And those with no talent wouldn't even awaken any of the elemental seeds, and their potential would be very low compared to those with at least some talent.

Damien answered, "Well, I haven't tried to discern my element yet. But even if I suck at fire laws, I have my strong soul. Once I cultivate my soul a bit more, I can try concocting at least rank 1 pills."

"How are you going to even procure the materials required for it?" Luna asked as she crossed her arms.

Damien gave a sly smile as he said, "I have my ways. A goddess like you should not concern herself with these mundane matters."

"Oho?" Luna curled her lips, "So seems like you are capable enough to handle these mundane things. And here I thought you would be begging this goddess to help you."

Damien wrinkled his forehead, "Do you mean you have the ability to help me?"

Luna shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe or maybe not. But since you boasted that you could figure things out yourself, this goddess thought it would be best that way."

Seeing the sly grin on her face, Damien's eyes twitched.

'Damn...don't tell me she could easily get me the stuff I need? Nevermind, for now, I should try to get it myself instead of relying on a foxy imp.'

"Whatever, I will now try to discern my elemental affinity. I would be satisfied no matter which element I have an affinity with."

"Whoa, you are confident you have an elemental seed? What if you only have dead elemental seeds? In other words, a complete talent-less wastrel?" Luna asked mockingly.

"Heh...for some reason, I think you already know which element I have an affinity with. If I was truly talentless, I doubt you would be so laid-back right now. And besides, I already had breakthroughs in both ethereal and soul cultivation within a day. So, I am ninety-nine percent sure that I will have at least some affinity towards an element." Damien said with a face-wide smile.

"Tch...you are no fun."Luna pursed her lips.

"I am going to sleep for now, and you should take some rest too. No need to discern your elemental affinity now; try it tomorrow morning. I can understand your excitement and eagerness to gain power, but remember that it will only cause a backlash and ruin whatever you have built till now if you overdo things. Otherwise, trust me, I wouldn't be telling this." She said earnestly before disappearing back into the Shard Of Essence.

Damien pondered, 'I guess I have been too hasty in trying to progress without taking proper rest. Wew, this little goddess is surely amusing. After a long time, it feels good to have someone be concerned about me even though it's because she depends on me.'

It was the morning of the 4th day of the week when Damien was already sitting cross-legged on the floor without forgetting to take a rank 2 Sustenance Pill.

He focused his senses on his ethereal core. And soon enough, inside the gaseous sphere, the first thing he noticed was some faint wild particles hovering and clashing with each other.

He tried to concentrate more to know what those particles exactly were. 

As he focused, he was able to see faint bright sparks whenever they clashed...he had guessed before what element the seed was, but now he was sure it was the lightning seed!

And the lightning seed had not yet taken any shape, nor was the Origin seed reacting in any way.

Damien opened his eyes and thought, 'Hmm...it seems I have the lightning seed. So does that mean at least one of my parents are adept in lightning laws?'

There was a high chance for one to inherit their talent in elemental laws from their parents or forefathers.

So, Damien thought he must have inherited his talent from his parents.

Only a very small percentage of cultivators awakened their elemental seeds, which were not related to their parents. But still, it was very rare and not something that happened commonly.

And there were even lesser chances for someone with talent-less parents to have some talent in elemental laws. Such that it was only a one in a hundred million chance.

Luna appeared before him as Damien broke off from his thoughts.

"So, you realized your elemental affinity, right?" She asked as she already noticed Damien, deep in thought from inside the Shard Of Essence.

"Yes, I have the lightning seed," Damien said with a tinge of excitement in his eyes.

"Good. You are lucky that you awakened a higher element instead of common elements like fire, water, and all. Lightning laws are really powerful such that in terms of pure power, they would exceed fire and ice and even the rest of the ethereal elements."

"But it seems like your alchemy experimentation has to be postponed unless you can manifest etheric fire using your soul."

However, Luna knew that Damien could at least comprehend some of the fire laws since he has a lightning element.

Still, his comprehension wouldn't be as strong as his comprehension in lightning laws; Unless Damien's comprehension talent was too high, he could easily comprehend fire laws without having an innate talent in them or if he had some fortuitous encounter to increase his comprehension of fire laws.

Suppose someone is not adept in fire laws but wants to pursue a successful career in alchemy. In that case, they should have high soul cultivation and be able to manifest strong etheric fire.

An Etheric fire has similar properties to normal fire, but the difference was that it originated from the soul and was also stronger than usual flames. 

But even among alchemists, only very few of them are able to even manifest basic etheric fire.

But using these flames was very taxing and tiring because of which even if they were stronger than the usual flames, cultivators other than alchemists didn't bother to try manifesting and using these etheric flames.

Damien asked with sparkling eyes, "Well, my beautiful goddess would teach me to manifest them...wouldn't you?"

Luna lifted her chin, "Bah...you can keep your silly flattering tricks with yourself. Don't expect this goddess to fall for them."

Damien rubbed his nose, seeing that she didn't fall for his sweet talk.

"But...seeing that you admire this goddess's ethereal beauty, I will help you if you promise me that you will owe me a favor," Luna said with an enchanting smile that would even bring heavenly emperors to their knees...but to Damien, it seemed as if a demoness was smiling at him.

'Shit...this imp is trying to take advantage of my situation. Well, what can a goddess ask as a favor from someone like me? As long as I can learn it, I guess I don't have to bother about what she wants from me.'

"Fine. I promise I will owe you one." Damien said with a strained smile.

"Good. But first, you procure the things required for concocting pills, then I will teach you how to manifest etheric fire." Luna said with a beaming smile.

"Also, you should not forget to train your lightning element. Don't get complacent thinking that you awakened a higher element. Even though ethereal lightning energy is extremely strong, it is too volatile. It is the hardest to control and manipulate among all ethereal elements. It is also easy to harm oneself in the process of cultivation, to the point where you can damage your own ethereal core. And the higher a level you reach, the more this concept applies to you." Luna said in an instructing tone.

Damien was a bit taken aback, thinking whether it was his fortune or misfortune to awaken the lightning element.

He cleared his thoughts and said, "Of course, every good thing comes with its advantages and disadvantages. I won't slack off on my ethereal training, and with you guiding me, things won't end up that bad."