Rank 2 fire, Lightning Cultivation, and the new Bryan

When ares stepped outside, he saw Bryan just sitting down. Before starting cultivation again, Ares wanted to watch him just in case. Bryan closed his eyes and concentrated on sensing the fire energy around him. Despite him knowing what to do from the information he was passed last night, he was still new to this so it took about 10 minutes. Once he was able to sense this new energy, a brief look of surprise took hold on Bryan's face. It was just for an instant though. Ares saw this and smiled a little. "Looks like he was able to sense it. He is a bit slow but it was his first time though. Next step is harder. Let's see if he can get through this." he thought as he continued to watch. Bryan followed the steps from the technique and heeded Ares' advice from the night before and drew in a bit of energy from the air. He circulated it through his body slowly before it settled into his chest. Through the process, Bryan's face contorted as if he was in pain, which he was. The fire energy was burning and refining his body completely, pushing out impurities and harmful substances. He was able to get through the first cycle. He took a breath and rested for a few minutes before he started again. He drew in a bit of energy and repeated the process. He continued this process for about 2 hours. By the end of the first 30 minutes, the look of pain on his face disappeared and was replaced by one of relaxation. Throughout the two hours, Ares was watching. He had a smile on his face. "He managed to persevere through it. Now is the hardest step, condensing the fire bead.". The look on Bryan's face changed to one of seriousness as well as Ares'. Bryan used his soul to start compacting and condensing the energy in his chest into a bead. It was a struggle but about 15 minutes later, it was done. A wave of heat coursed through his body for a few second before disappearing. His skin color that had turned red from the heat of the energy that flowing though him turned back to its normal color. Bryan opened his eyes and got up. He noticed Ares was watching and shouted out to him. "Did you see? I did it! I have a basic rank 1 fire element now!" Ares smiled, and nodded. "Nice work. I saw. I just wanted to make sure you got through it before I started my own cultivation. Now work hard to get to rank 2. We have about 5 or so hours to do so, so work hard to complete it." Ares said his peace and went to his previous spot from earlier and sat down and started. "Will do!" Bryan said as he sat back down as well to continue.

Silence had consumed the area as the two of them were immersed in their cultivation. Soon, 4 hours had passed, and Ares had just reached rank 2 in his fire element. A wave of energy coursed through his body and his physique and attack power received another boost. Eagerly wanting to test out this increase in power, he stood up. he opened his hand and willed a flame to appear in his palm. A flame a bit bigger, brighter, and hotter than before flickered into existence. he then willed it to spread out and cover his entire hand. The flame followed his will and a second later, it enveloped his entire hand. He now had a flaming hand. Smiling, he made a fist and punched the ground as hard as he could. A soft thump sound was made. Ares made the flame disappear and looked at the result. There was a 2 inch fist shaped hole at the point of impact with severe black scorch marks. "Not bad. A pretty good improvement. 4 hours have gone by, so Bryan should achieve rank 2 soon. The storm will be here within the next couple of hours so I won't be able to improve my wind element in this short amount of time, so I will wait for him to finish." Ares laid in the grass to take a nap as he waited for Bryan to finish his cultivation. 10 minutes later, he was asleep.

"Ares...Bro..wake up." A half hour later Ares was woken to Bryan shaking his body and yelling telling him to wake up. He sat up and yawned. "Yo, were you able to get to rank 2?" he asked as he stood up. "Yeah, just in time too. the storm is starting to roll in." Bryan replied as he looked to the sky. He was right. Thick, dark gray clouds were moving in rapidly. "Alright, the storm should start soon, so get ready. We should be able to get rank 1 basic Lightning element accomplished within a couple hours. try and get to rank 2 before it ends. And remember, be careful. This will be dangerous. Draw in a tiny bit at first. this is also a great opportunity. lightning is a great was to refine and toughen the body. it is great for speed and attacks as well as crowd control. Use this time wisely." Ares reminded Bryan. He nodded and said "Will do. I am really looking forward to this Thunder-fire physique. I am tired of being overweight." "You should. It is really strong. The ladies will be falling for you after this." Ares said with a laugh. He knew Bryan loved flirting with the ladies, who beamed with joy after hearing what Ares said. "Hell yes! Let's get this!" he shouted. they then went back to their spots and started to try and sense the the lightning energy so they could start drawing it in as soon as it appeared.

20 minutes later, the storm started. Thunder started rumbling loudly and rain started to fall. traces of Lightning energy appeared as well and Bryan and Ares immediately noticed and started to draw it into their bodies. Knowing that it was an extremely deadly element, they both started with very little energy. As it entered and coursed through their bodies, they felt a painful burning and shocking sensation course through them. However, knowing the benefits this had for them, they pushed through the pain and completed their first cycles. Time carried on and so did they. The more cycles they went through, the easier it was for them and the faster they could cultivate. Their bodies were getting stronger the more they were refined by the energy. And as the storm raged on the thicker the lightning energy in the air was. this also helped them cultivate faster. 3 hours after the storm started, Ares was the first to achieve the lightning basic rank 1 element. a wave of blue lightning coursed through his body. His physique improved and his body was filled with vigorous energy and vitality. Despite this sense of accomplishment and new improved power, he continued on, trying to get to Rank 2 before the storm ended. 20 minuets after Ares achieved his rank 1 element, Bryan broke through and achieved his as well, as well as his new physique. His body went through a complete rebirth. His skin became perfect. He grew several inches in an instant, now standing at 6 foot 4. His figure thinned out and he became more toned and muscular. His hair grew out and turned to a red and blue color. His eye colors changed. One was red while the other was blue. Lightning could be seen flickering faintly in them. An oppressive aura could be felt around him for about 5 feet in all directions. If a normal human was around and looked at him, they would have felt as if they were looking at a god.