As Aedric drove through the streets of Sky city, Elias stared out the window at the setting sun that painted the sky orange. It certainly seemed like something out of a painting as it created a serene setting as Elias found himself lost in the breathtaking sight and for a short moment all that weighed on his mind vanished.
It didn't take long before they finally arrived at the house, but even before they parked the girls came outside having heard the sound of the car, as they hugged Elias.
"Why did you take so long coming home?"
Celia said with an almost sulking expression,"Don't mind her, she's just hungry", Aria said as she pulled Celia cheeks .
Elias gave them a smile, he ruffled their hair before saying, "let's go in and have dinner.Then we can talk about how your day went", Elias said as he managed to appease Celia as everyone went inside.
Elias went staight to his room. He changed and had a bath, before slipping into a casual shirt and trousers before coming down for dinner. And everyone was already seated except Tyris, who was in charge of cooking once again, Elias pulled a chair and sat on the opposite side of his sisters with Aedric being at the head of the table as everyone waited for Tyris who was still in the kitchen.
"So I hope the academy meet your expectations", Aedric led the conversation.
"It was so fun, I was a bit scared when I was being introduced to the class, but everything went well and I made three friends", Celia said with excitement clear on her face.
"She forgot to mention how huge that place is, it's almost twice the size of our previous school, but with so many different facilities but the one that really caught my eye was the ranking board which acted like a ranking for the students and the only way to increase your rank, is by challenging someone stronger and I'm at the bottom of the board, but I plan to challenge people until I make it to top 50, I can manage at least that."
Aria said as she seemed less interested in the school and more interested in fighting, and poor Elias seeing this didn't know if to be worried or supportive.
While Aria was talking, Tyris came in with the food as he served everyone, and they all ate to their fill.
"Tyris, are you sure you don't wanna leave the ISA and become a chef, i feel you would really make it in the culinary world, Aedric said as he finished his meal and wiped his face while everyone agreed with what he said, which made him bit embarrassed, he wasn't used to such compliments or any at all.
"But I think i might have to request for a maid, with your current job at the ISA, it may become quite the burden to always cook when you get back home and we would also need some help keeping the house in order", Aedric said nothing as he waited for everyone's reply but Tyris spoke up first saying "I think it's a good idea, but if you don't mind I would still like to be doing the cooking, I can manage and it's something I actually like doing."
Tyris said as he looked around, trying to gauge everyone's opinion but it seemed like they all agreed, he had shown he could cook very well so as long as he he didn't mind, they didn't either.
"While we are still here, I have something for all of you", Aedric said as he gave each a small bag and as everyone checked the contents, it was a phone for each of them, "I noticed Elias and Tyris didn't have a phone on them and while I was at it I just got some for the girls too, we never know it might come in handy all the phones have my number, so if any emergency comes up you can call me."
Everyone thanked Aedric, especially Celia as she hugged him, then she and Aria went to the sitting room as they explored their new phones leaving Tyris and Elias to clear the table, Tyris offered to do the dishes so Elias left him in the kitchen but as came out he still saw Aedric sitting at the table and he gestured for him to sit.
"Elias, i know you are still burdened by the task at hand, but you must calm down, you shouldn't cultivate with a clouded mind but a calm and clear one."
"I know you can do it and I do not like to over complicate things, so I will leave it at that but if you need help I'll be in my room." Aedric said, leaving Elias sitting alone but just then a hand tugged on his shirt and he turned back seeing Celia trying to pull him from his seat.
"Come sit with us, brother ", she said as she still tried pulling Elias, who looked at her with a smile as he thought," how could he allow his problems make him distant from his family,he couldn't allow such", as he stood up and followed behind her.
Him and his sisters then started talking about how their day went in detail and when Tyris finally left the kitchen they also invited him to come sit too. Elias even took out his axe which Aria seemed to love as he gave it a few swings while Celia was thinking about a name for it. They played with his axe and ring until he thought it was time to return to his room, which his sisters were not a fan of, but he still had to go and told Tyris to make sure they didn't stay up late.
Upon reaching his room, Elias sat cross-legged on the ground as he brought out the core, which pulsed vibrantly with mana, Elias took three deep breaths remembering Aedric's words and his entire experience from today, this was the moment of truth as he placed both hands on the core.
This was going to be a bit tricky, because he had to do the exact opposite of what he learned to do this morning as he thought of different ways to tackle it but he noticed that unlike when he was looking for his spark, the mana in the core was so condensed he could feel it and then he had an idea which seemed like the most stupid but also the most likely to work.
Imagining the core as his spark, he tried to draw mana from it to his spark, but time passed but nothing happened, he felt no change but after a bit more time, he felt it finally, it was slow but he felt the mana moving and passing through his pathways straight to his spark, for the first time in his life Elias was officially cultivating but he focused.
The mana felt like the sensation of having small electric current pass through his body but it felt good. And after some time what started as slow, increased in speed so much Elias had to remove one hand to reduce the absorption speed, but even then the S-rank spark showed it's full hunger as the mana kept pouring into the spark like an endless stream, the spark burned brighter and brighter with each passing minute until Elias felt he had reached a threshold.
Placing both hands on the core once more, as he allowed the mana to flow unrestricted as the spark seemd to be on the verge of an explosion, but as more mana entered it, the spark released the mana but it kept spinning at high speeds for a quite some time before finally a bright orange core was left, when the spinning stopped the core was formed and the excess mana was released as a wave spread around Elias body pushing his body above human limits to the early Ember stage.
But the wave didn't stop in Elias's room as Aedric opened his eyes, as he looked towards Elias room with a smile as he went back to sleep, but it wasn't only Aedric who noticed, Tyris also turned towards Elias's room as he thought "Breakthrough."