Chapter 38: The Price of Self Control

There was this desire in the heart of Elias to quickly ascend to become a level 1 Wisp, even when he knew that he could still excavate more of his potential. The desire was instinctual, and it was so jarring that he felt overwhelmed, and his consciousness in the form of a wisp wavered.

Then Elias realized where this desire was coming from, and it was the seven tornadoes of vitality that still remained above the first ten Lumina Pools and were slowly descending towards the deeper and wider pools.

If Elias could not see all of his pools of Lumina, then there was a great chance that he would have followed his instincts and lost the opportunity to push for more benefits.

Although not generally known, it was an undeniable fact that there were a hundred Pools of Lumina inside the body, but how many would be able to resist the temptation of ascending would most likely be pitifully few.

It was like telling a man dying of thirst not to drink the pleasant cup of water beside them and instead walk for another mile further in the desert heat just to get another cup of water.

Elias had heard the saying a thousand times in the past, and only now did he fully understand it. Power only came to those who truly craved it.

It would be so easy to relent at this point. He could tell himself that even if he opened only ten pools of Lumina, he would be able to ascend quickly, and the benefits he could gain by reaching Fury Forge or maybe even Mist Phantom would exceed any pitiful number of Miracles he could acquire by opening more pools.

But he knew that he would be lying to himself and seeking the easy way out.

When he was a mortal, perhaps he could forgive himself for following the call of the Passenger in his head because he did not have any agency, his actions would not change anything, and his only fate would be to perish in agony, but now Lumina flowed in his veins, and he was no longer a helpless child who could not make decisions for himself.

Any of his failings from this point forward was his own alone.

His body was still following the motions of drawing in Lumina, increasing the strength of the tornadoes of vitality above, and indirectly multiplying the pressure for his ascension.

Elias was realizing that this wisp here would have to be the one to direct the path of his ascension, since without this piece of his consciousness inside this strange space, he would not be able to truly understand what was happening to him.

Pushing aside the need to draw the two purple orbs into himself, the wisp began to move, and as if it were a magnet drawing the attention of the red tornadoes above, they followed the flickering multicolored flame.

Seven massive tendrils of vitality that resembled tornadoes of blood, following a tiny wisp no bigger than an apple. It was a strange sight, like seeing an ant pulling seven mountains.

The moment the wisp crossed the first excavated Lumina Pools, there seemed to be a fragile barrier in front of it, but it barely stopped the wisp from passing through it.

As if they had just realized there were new Pools of Lumina to be filled, the red tornadoes descended in fury and impacted against the empty pools below, shaking the ground and sending visible ripples of force throughout this space.

The vitality tornadoes tore through the web of darkness over the Pools of Lumina with no issue, and knowing that the process from this point did not need his supervision, Elias did not wait for the pools to be filled up before he began moving towards the third group of Lumina Pools.

The pressure he could feel building up in the tornadoes was reduced as they began filling up the Pools of Lumina, but Elias knew he had to break past the barriers over the other Lumina Pools quickly enough to maintain that balance, or even if he did not want to, the sheer pressure from connecting himself to a massive source of vitality like he did would force him to ascend.

This time, he was able to feel the barrier that existed between the twentieth pool and the twenty-first. It was as if he was tearing through a web, and it was an uncomfortable sensation.

Behind him, he heard a deep rumble and grinding as the pools of Lumina had been filled up, and now they were growing deeper and wider. The wisp wavered in its flight path as the seven tornadoes of vitality rumbled past and began to impact the new Pools of Lumina that Elias had just opened up.

The call to ascend became more pronounced as two new purple orbs rose over the expanded pools, making the total number four.

If there was one thing that Elias knew that he built up a tolerance for over the years, then it was the calls from outside influence to change his path. He had been fighting to maintain his sanity over the years, and his intense desire for control over every aspect of his life was just the tool he had to get to keep him sane.

Knowing his mission, Elias drove away all distractions. A part of his consciousness was responsible for drawing all of this vitality into his body, and he knew that his body was breaking, but it would hold; on the other hand, this part of him must make sure that all one hundred Pools of Lumina were filled.

It was unknown if he would ever get an opportunity like this again.

Perhaps it was his recent experiences with having his mind outside his body that gave Elias the ability to easily pilot his wispy form, as he pushed towards the next barrier.

Now he could clearly sense that the barrier was thicker; previously, it felt like webs, but now it was almost as if he was tearing through a thin cloth.

It was still manageable, and Elias did not pause to know that the tornadoes of vitality would be following his path. Less than a third of the Lumina Pools had been opened, and there were seven more barriers to cut through.

With mechanical efficiency, he cut through the fourth, fifth, and sixth barriers, and he approached the seventh.

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