Finally mastering the Horizon Step, Caelus left for the Empire. Once he came back, he noticed some differences, probably from a recent festival. As he entered, he could feel the scent of Tellus nearby, and as he continued walking, passing cultivators but seeing no one in the crowd, he knew they were probably at the Church or gone somewhere else.
Finally finding Tellus, he saw her alone on a bench, eating, with Minerva and the rest elsewhere; he could see from afar that they were training. Since she was alone, he wanted to at least check up on her. Walking up, he sat down across from her, his tail curling so it didn’t hit anyone, but still taking up a lot of the table.
"...? Who is-" Tellus looked up, noticing Caelus, who looked very different. It had been more than a week since he was gone, and she had no idea why he was.
"Why were you gone for so long?" Tellus finally asked, finishing her food.
"Ah, I was making my abilities better; all the moves you saw before were from Foundation, so I had to change and make it better," Caelus replied calmly. "I also renamed my first technique because... the name was not very simple for something named simple cut." Caelus’s face shifted to a lighter, pink, almost mixed with the skin, but the difference was noticeable.
Tellus listened and let out a soft chuckle. She thought the name Simple Cut was unexpected, having heard it from Arjuna in the first place.
"Indeed, though, what have you renamed it? I have recently begun my training to change my technique, but I’m stuck on what I should add or change for it." Tellus noticed his face was lightly pink, finding it amusing that he was embarrassed by a name like that. But she’d been the same.
"...At least the name wasn’t Holy Demon Destroyer..." Tellus thought, only then did she take a second to compose herself; the name only reminded her of how childish her old naming method was.
"Well, what is it that you need to train now? Heavenly Severance?" Caelus asked, assuming it was that because it was the only one she had seen.
"No, those are ones assigned by the Church, which we are given a different version of. Once we reach a higher realm, it is for my own technique, Fallen Virtue." Tellus replied. "Only those made by the self need to be upgraded, because there is no path to follow."
Tellus took a moment. "Hence why we are discouraged from making our own technique, for our own benefit." She replied.
Caelus sighed. "Well, that only hinders your own growth; you wouldn’t be able to learn and make it more personalized towards you. It’d be a lot harder for opponents to know what you do if you don’t have anything that they can guess."
Tellus only objected slightly. "While that can be the case, that doesn’t mean it’s efficient to give everyone almost the same ability, and vary it depending on path, since the Royal Guards aren’t simply of the Valoria path."
Caelus, once again, was about to reply. Yet, he hesitated, stopping himself to think on this... Is it beneficial to object, or mostly just useless? "...I mean, she has a point, it’s better for a large group of people, but they shouldn’t just discourage people from going there..." Caelus took a moment.
"...Indeed, I was thinking a little too narrowly, assuming only one way existed, but still, the Church shouldn’t discourage it; more just explain why they shouldn’t, I feel like it’d give a lot more trust. And help their own followers grow alongside keeping it stable."
Caelus continued, changing his tone. While he knew he was wrong, he wouldn’t wallow in it; he’d simply change. It was too rigid to just stick to a single belief in a new world.
"Then, what can your technique do? Other than just a giant slash, made of Mana, it also eradicated a lot of the Undead easily, so it would be more powerful against the Undead." Caelus replied.
"Ah, it’s a supercharged slash, it’s just a singular one reaching its most powerful state and falling down, kind of like those blasts from outside the world Missus Nyx would talk about when she came here," Tellus replied.
"It can bypass most, if not all, defenses, even for those at Soul Formation, when I was at Virtuoso, but now I need to change it because it’s becoming less effective." Tellus continued, feeling comfortable due to her hand moving and trying to touch his tail, which moved on its own and smacked her hand away.
"...Apologies for that. But, I see." Caelus thought for a second. It felt simple, but he couldn’t just give her something that didn’t fit her; it had to be fundamentally something that was what she’d do.
"...Wait, Missus Nyx? Seems like she came around here while I was gone... But blasts from outside the world... Probably not the universe, so what could it be like, what Fallen Virtue looks like..." Caelus thought to himself, while retroactively trying to fit whatever phenomena he could remember into what Tellus even spoke about.
"Ah, you have the Earth Sword intent, right?" Caelus asked.
"Indeed, I do? What is it-"
"Then why don’t you make it feel like the earth itself is pushing or pulling the opponent down, like making it harder to move, and with that, why not also make it unpredictable, something which fits a fallen, they don’t stick to one thing, since it means it changed or fell. Make it different whenever they’re blocking." Caelus continued, interrupting, letting his thoughts run wild. Only noticing a bit after, stopping himself as he blinked, trying his hardest to make himself composed.
"You don’t need to make it stronger, since your Mana already does that, and probably your sword intent." After a few seconds of silence, he spoke once more.
Tellus blinked, listening to him ramble. She found it fitting for what he told her she should do, her sword intent, and how her ability would be predictable if it didn’t kill in the first strike, so she would keep them in mind, still, wanting to do some things on her own. Standing up, she felt the presence of the two nobles way before. But she felt more confident in talking with them.
"Also, I forgot to even introduce their names, since you didn’t let me come with you. The lady is named Diana, and her brother is Vulcan." Tellus spoke. "Though no last name, that is because Nobles don’t have them; the masses do, yes, but rarely do they get rid of a last name." She continued, her hand moving and grasping the blade.
Caelus simply nodded, hearing their names. He found it even more suspicious that Aphro had brought him here. "...Definitely because of my name, so many of them are in some relation. But, it doesn’t matter how, as long as it doesn’t slow me down or something."
Caelus sighed, seeing the two walk up to Tellus, talking with her. He was about to interrupt, only for Tellus to nod no at him, since she didn’t want it. Caelus simply listened; he wasn’t going to barge in, because she had to learn to deal with them herself. So it was for the better.
"...Wait, I’ve upgraded my own technique twice, and made another technique of my own... And I still have’t gone up a single stage." Caelus contemplated while staying still, noticing someone about to walk into his tail. Caelus shifted to the side, bumping into the table he had been sitting on earlier, fell, regained his balance, and sat on it.
"Oops-" Caelus looked up, seeing Elysia walk by with five guards around her, probably because of the earlier assassination attempt on her.
[That’s because cultivation slows down now, even as a Dragon or with the Supreme Foundation, your cultivation becomes harder to pass; it’ll take at least a month, and at most a year entirely to reach a higher stage. You also need to stabilize your Core :3]
"...Oh." Caelus listened, nodding and getting up once more, noticing that lots of cultivators were already gone... Not knowing why, he asked Aphro. "Why are all the Cultivators gone? Or almost all of them."
[That’s because a tournament began, one which happens only once every 50 years, and you can only join it once, ever. Because it’s for those growing more powerful, only for Virtuoso to Soul Formation, Tellus didn’t go, as you can see, and you can’t join now, though the rewards were really good.]
"...Ah, cool, anyways, I’ll probably just work on my techniques again." Caelus walked away, past the other people, and reached the training area for royal guard trainees.
While it was annoying that he couldn’t go there in time, he wasn’t in a rush for it; he could try again, presumably, fifty years later. Heading into the Arcane Arena, he noticed some small changes, more barriers, and an area that led to another Arena. He wanted to know what it would do, but for now, he’d just work on Burning Temptation.
"...Well, I’d have to scale it down till I can have it work, but let’s see, I already have it pulling on opponents, but that isn’t enough, I also need to do something which makes it more powerful... But which I would do, not just something practical." Caelus thought the best idea he could come up with was...
"Burning Temptation," Caelus spoke, his hand moving as the flame shaped into an arrow... Only to then change, spiraling and expanding out like a field. It is believed Mana was an energy before, but... It was never stated that it HAD to be treated that way.
So, he’d treat it as a field, the plane around him became excited, not the people, no, there was no one here at the moment, due to the Grand Tournament.
Finally, the flame arrow appeared once more, yet even what they saw as the arrow wasn’t what would cause the damage. It could bypass Mana and Physical barriers because it wasn’t the arrow that caused the damage. Still, the field itself was localized to the area where the explosion would be.
Aimed at the dummy, Caelus gave a smile, feeling good about what he was doing. As he realized, there was still something wrong, so he changed it. "...Like a stone dropped in water, the stone, as my arrow does not cause the damage, but the ripple of the waves is what causes the damage."
Because of this, the effect of Burning Temptation wouldn’t just happen in the area it ’hits,’ but all around the field of Mana his Burning Temptation would reach, meaning someone who was protecting themselves with Mana would be more hurt than someone who doesn’t. Meaning the only way not to get hurt is to dodge it.
Firing it, the arrow slammed into the dummy, exploding into a sphere, closing in for a second only to expand out. However, Caelus lowered the output, but it still reached close to him, damaging the dummy’s entire interior. As it finished, the explosion collapsed into a pillar, pulling the dummy up with it’s gravity.
Once the fire dissipated, Caelus dusted his hands off and used Mana to remove anything else that dirtied his clothing or hair. "...Now, I should probably go back to talking with Tellus or even Elysia. I’ve been gone for way too long without interacting; well, I just did with Tellus, so maybe I could with Sol or Elysia..." Caelus spoke, rambling to himself, somewhat mumbled.
Realizing he didn’t even know much about Sol, other than his looks, how he spoke, and his fighting style. He realized he was a little too distant from people.
[Notice! Another person has Reincarnated into this world with a different System - Type [Mechanical] Cultivator, who is currently not in your Empire. You have been warned :3]