Chapter 50: The Standard Elements 1

"What the heck happened?"

Yoshino Aruven asked as he snapped out from his daze. He was quite surprised. He could not believe the scene that was in front of him.

The female lieutenant named Alshura Soura of the Trogan Militia. A young genius whom one of the leading powers in the world had recruited and given a rank. Yet she was unable to land a hit on her opponent.

"What do you mean, 'what happened?' You're watching the same video feed as us, right?"

The one who replied to the Yoshino's question was Benjo Roxas. He was a self-proclaimed merchant who was currently serving as the porter of their group.

He had an eyebrow raised. He was probably puzzled that someone on their group was not paying attention on the screen.

Yoshino felt guilty. He decided to come clean on this one. He admitted,

"Uhm well, I… spaced out."

"Spaced out?"

The one who reacted this time was the female student named Ariana Aries. She also had an eyebrow raised. And for some reason her voice was a little high pitched when she asked her question.

Yoshino wondered why Ariana would interrupt his conversation with the porter-merchant. The young man glanced at Roxas first.

But the latter was simply shaking his head dejectedly. He seemed like he doesn't want to speak any further.

Hence the young man with jet black hair decided to answer the female student instead. He replied,

"Like staring off to nothingness?"

"I know what spacing out means!"

Unfortunately the answer he had given had made Ariana snap. She appeared enraged by what she heard. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself. She then continued,

"What I'm asking is why are you spacing out?"

Yoshino gulped nervously. There was no way he could answer that without earning further ire from the female student.

What was he supposed to say anyway? That he got distracted when he remembered something?

And what would that something be? A video game he once played? Or a certain book that he was reading before?

If he said any of those then he would just sound lame, pathetic and stupid. Those were lousy excuses that would never let him off the hook.

Thus he remained silent. All he could do now was to try and reflect on his poor conduct.

However the female student seemed to still be waiting for an answer. She was even tapping the ground with her foot. As if that was some kind of ticking timer of what was about to happen.

"For how long? I dare ask."

Thankfully someone intervened. That person was none other than Steven O. He was definitely a good guy!

Was what Yoshino wanted to say. If only those dead pan eyes that were not staring at him harshly. O was definitely mad at him as well.

The young man felt weak. He mustered his remaining strength to give an honest reply. He admitted wryly,

"Felt like months actually."

…

…

…

No one spoke for a few seconds. Disappointed, appalled, ashamed. Those were no doubt the emotions lingering around their group.

The first one to speak was Ariana. She reprimanded the no-good male student in front of her. She said,

"Then get your act together! Soura is risking her hide out there!"

Yoshino apologized to everyone. He even wanted to go over the other side of the fountain to apologize to the YSC as well. But of course that would be for some other time.

He then focused his attention back on the video stream they were watching. He stared at Alden Bryant. The Yards member with charming dimples spoke,

"There's no need to push yourself too hard. You can just forfeit this match you know?"

"Rargh! As if I'd do that!"

Soura refused adamantly. She ran forward and covered herself with yellow-colored flames.

"[Fire Dance: Tenki!]"

Oh well, don't say I didn't give you a chance.

Bryant sighed helplessly. He also manifested his ability. He declared,

"[Cloud Wall]"

A fluffy white-like substance emerged in front of the male YSC member. It was a substance that was usually seen up in the sky during a fair and sunny day.

"Cloud element?"

Yoshino raised his eyebrow. He was pretty sure that there was no such thing on the list of standard elements.

On Roku Shiki Online, there were 24 standard elements registered on the system. These so-called elements refer to the fundamental aspects in which a player could wield and manifest his spells from.

A few examples of these standard 24 were the ever-famous fire, lightning, and wind elements. There were also those obscure aspects such as Psychic, Poison, and Beast elements.

"Must be a composite element then."

Roxas interrupted the young man's thoughts as he answered. But it was not a question actually.

"Yeah, thanks for the information."

Yoshino replied sarcastically. He knew about that possibility obviously. But since he was in the wrong a few moments ago, he did not press on the issue any further.

However the merchant-porter had to kick the young man while he was down. He actually billed Yoshino for the "information" that he had given. The nerve of this guy.

Anyway,

Composite elements were those derived from the standard 24 elements. These aspects tend to either retain or combine the innate effects of the elements they were based from.

But why were they not considered under the standard 24?

The answer here was because composite elements rarely manifest to every person. Most of the time, these elements were attributed to the lineage of an individual. A bloodline specialty of sorts.

Thus the number of users of such elements were limited. Often times, these were secured treasures of renowned clans or guilds.

On a personal note, [Enchant Element] could only absorb and enhance the 24 standard elements.

That was why Yoshino could only cast [Storm Fang] back in the Keshun Town Hall instead of [Black Whirlwind Fang]. Since he could not absorb Sur Tan's composite element completely.

In addition, the [Storm Fang] was technically just [Wind Fang] renamed. The young man with pitch black pupils just wanted to sound cool back then.

Having said that, there should not be that much of an issue in using [Enchant Element].

Since Yoshino could just extract one of the base elements used in the composite. And besides, only elites possessed them in the first place.

Although there were also those geniuses who were able to formulate a new composite element on their own.

A good example of this would be Bryant who was being broadcasted at the moment. A rare talent that was able to successfully formulate a new composite element on his own.

'He used to only wield water and wind two years ago.'

Yoshino reminisced. He tried to remember the times when he was classmates with Bryant. The young man then suspected that the latter had probably used those two elements as the base for this new composite of his.

'Everyone seemed to have moved on.'

Yoshino clenched his fists silently. He felt ashamed. It was naïve to think that the world stopped moving while he busied himself inside the library.

Every people have their own story to follow. The world would not wait for someone. And it would definitely not stop for someone.

'This is not the time for self-pity!'

Yoshino shook his head vigorously. He did this to ward off the drowsiness he had. But more importantly, to drive those depressing thoughts out of his mind.

Or else he was going to space out for months again. He decided to focus on the situation being projected on the screen instead.

Soura was unable to penetrate the wall made of the Cloud element. All of her yellow-flamed attacks were blocked by the wall in front of her. She clicked her tongue,

"Rargh! So tough! Then how about this!"

The female lieutenant extinguished the yellow flames surrounding her. But it was not a sign of her giving up. Instead a new form of energy was manifesting around her. She roared,

"[Fire Dance: Tensu!]"

[Heat Shroud].

By manipulating the temperature around her body, Soura could produce a mirage-like phenomenon. This would enable her to gain a stealth effect to infiltrate her opponent.

"Very good!"

Yoshino grinned when he saw the move. He agreed on the decision done by the female lieutenant.

Instead of pushing through the solid defense, she should find a way to go over the wall. Even O and Ariana praised this decision of hers.

However,

Bryant seemed to be unimpressed. He started casting a new spell as well. He declared,

"[Cumulus!]"

A smokescreen like substance covered the entire field. But unlike the regular smoke this one did not dissipate as time went on. It instead remained afloat the battle area.

'Why?'

Yoshino raised an eyebrow? He could not figure out why Bryant deliberately limit his scope of vision.

Until,

"Found you!"

Bryant yelled triumphantly. He directed a blast of clouds towards a certain direction.

One might say, 'A blast of clouds? Really? Would that not hurt at all?'

In fact, such attack appeared fluffy and looked really comfortable to touch.

But of course it would hurt a lot.

If the inference that the cloud element was derived from the water and wind element was correct. Then this blast of cloud would most likely possess the fluid dynamic characteristics of a vapor-like substance.

This would mean that if a certain amount of pressure is applied, even a small pinch of cloud could produce a tremendous amount of force.

Take a compressed air tank for an example. If one would release the pressure inside the cylinder, a strong pushing force could be experienced.

And certainly a mass of cloud rushing at such a high speed would cause massive damage.

Boom!

True enough, the stream of clouds resulted to a localized explosion upon impact. Traces of flames could be seen where the attack landed.

"Soura!"

Yoshino exclaimed. He did not expect that the female lieutenant could be found out that easily.

'That nimbus. Probably have an area detection effect!'

The young man with jet black hair suspected. The spell was most likely similar to his [Scanner] ability or perhaps even better. The smokescreen had definitely boosted the area perception of the male student.

'So this is the level of power one has to possess in order to become a Yards member.'

Yoshino clenched his fist in frustration. He stared intently on the man being shown in the virtual screen.

"Is it over already?"

Bryant smiled confidently. His charming dimples were still visible through the video feed. And it was really annoying.