Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 57: Chapter 53: Training II

Read chapter 57 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Chapter 53: Training II Chapter 53: Training II Alex awoke to the smell of wild pine, and the physical memory of pain coursing through his bones. His body ached from the last two days. Bruises formed across his ribs, he had a swollen left ankle, and the ever-present dull throb of magical fatigue set in the center of his skull. But all of that dulled the moment he opened his eyes and saw Sylvaris standing by the water. The elf was barefoot, coat draped across a stone, his silver hair unbound and catching the morning breeze like strands of starlight. He stood in silence, one hand behind his back, the other holding a polished crystal the size of a human heart. Alex looked at the crystal and could see a fire that danced inside it. “Come,” Sylvaris said without turning. His words resonated across the clearing like a whisper shouted into time itself. “You’re late.” Alex sighed. “It’s barely sunrise.” “That’s when I said to be ready. You’ve wasted the first light.” He rose unsteadily and limped out of the hut toward Slyvaris, swallowing his pride. “Right. Sorry.” Sylvaris turned and tossed him the crystal. It was warm in Alex’s hand, but not hot. " You were able to extinguish the flame yesterday.” The elf waved his hand towards the glyph circle still etched into the ground in the clearing. “This time, it will not wait patiently for you. It will fight back.” “Fight back?” He looked at the crystal in his hand. It was an object, how could it fight him? The elf folded his hands and smirked. *** Alex fell to the grass with the stinging burn of aether on his forearms from the crystal’s last attack. He hadn’t managed to cast his [Shield] in time, and had to block the blow with his arms instead. The force of the crystal’s energy blasts was no joke, and he had to push through the pain and damage that his body was accumulating. The damn crystal containing the blue fire could indeed fight back as Sylvaris said. First of all, it moved. Not faster than Alex could move, but it still posed a problem as he tried to incorporate rapid direction and acceleration shifts into his efforts to maintain the Asura Style stances. It was not an easy feat. The crystal also shot blasts of aether at him. The size, strength and speed of which always seemed to be random, so he could never anticipate a pattern from the object and then exploit it. This made the training all the more grueling for him. He barely grazed the crystal once, but failed to extinguish the flame inside from his imparted intent. Otherwise he felt like he was simply always on the defensive. He had yet to even attempt using a [Descending Demon Fist] even once. “Your style is unrefined,” Sylvaris said as he picked himself back up and stepped in the glyph circle at the grove’s center. “Your footwork is clumsy. And your strikes rely on your desperation instead of your experience.” Alex gritted his teeth. “I’ve fought badger-bears, kobolds, moss monsters, traps-” “And you live because you were lucky . Not because you were good .” The elf's eyes flashed. “Luck will not carry you through the next battle. So we will build you from the foundation up.” He stepped aside and gestured to the hated glowing fire crystal dancing at the edge of the glyphs. “Again,” Sylvaris said, arms folded. By midday, Alex’s legs trembled from strain. His arms burned from catching himself over and over, and still Sylvaris offered no encouragement, only the occasional correction: “Your left knee is weak”, “Stop clenching your jaw”, “The breath of aether will not obey you if you treat it like a weapon. It is not a hammer, not tool.” Hours passed, birds sang overhead, his sweat-soaked boots squelched every time he tried to reset his stance. But eventually, by the sixth or seventh hour, something changed. The crystal didn’t seem to be flickering so wildly. His heart stilled and his breath came slower. He stopped trying to dominate the crystal and the aether, and started listening to it. Alex saw the next movement, the next stance f