Ceph sighed while looking out past the fields, deep in thought. After a few minutes, he finally spoke again. "I guess I ultimately don''t have much of a choice."


    "If I want to be able to live my life. If I don''t want to run and hide, constantly seeking shelter. I have to grow stronger. You''re right, too many are forced to grow up before they are ready. But I think I am."


    Eldrian smiled but did not say anything. For what could he say? His friend had decided and he would stand with him in his decision.


    "What are your ns now?" Ceph asked after another moment of silence psed.


    "I''m going to go to the Taurtania. Myropsis said I can use the resources in her family forge and also ess their family library. Seems like she is a duchess... It''s my best bet for making some significant progress in a short amount of time."


    "What about you, will you join me?"


    "No, if I want to force my growth I will need to return to Avgi."


    "I see..." Eldrian smiled, he had half expected it. "Then until we meet again."


    ...


    (AN: If you want a refresher on Crystoi''s stats and abilities, I have added it in the author''s note at the bottom of the chapter along with the updated values. I will also post it on Discord.)


    For the next few days, Eldrian continued to train to be adept at using his newfound strength and speed. He also took time to continue his ether maniption experiments. He even tried it with Crystoi, though when he did it was quitecking inparison to simply holding the spear and using its abilities, especially inparison to using [Tempest Chase].


    Eldrian had taken his time to get ustomed to what Crystoi was capable of. The first passive ability was [Attunement] which was increasing his attributes by 15%.


    [Fortis], the second passive ability, massively helped him with regaining his mana. It was such a huge increase that he actually felt that he now had more mana than before, even though the mana inside his body was less. Looking at the numbers this made sense, but it still felt weird when actually experiencing it.


    In a way, Crystoi acted like a mini-vortex. It did not directly give him mana, but rather slightly increased the density of mana around itself and Eldrian. It also allowed Eldrian to more easily collect the mana, lowering the already low bridge between him and mana.


    [Elemental boost] was amazing, though only if he could use magic freely and form a distance. It was especially useful when using the seven natural elements (light, dark, fire, wind, water, earth, and nature). Nearly doubling their power whilst not increasing their cost. Eldrian was amazed that something like that was even possible. For hybrid spells like Ice Rain, the increase was far lesser, but it was still useful.


    [Elemental Alignment] was simply insanity, and Eldrian found that he could actually use this along with ether maniption to make a truly terrifying javelin. But again, using Crystoi as such is not ideal. Especially since it would risk someone being able to take hold of Crystoi.


    Of course, Fotias (ming snake strike) was still an impressive skill. However, if Eldrian activated [Elemental Alignment] he could achieve near simr damage continuously, only the mana drain was insane. On the flip, it required basically no additional concentration on his side. Thus it would enable him to focus more on the fight and less on technique to execute a skill.


    Fotias''s new damage after Eldrian reached Tier 5 were as follows: [Physical damage: 637 (+22) | Fire damage: 354 (38)] Yet with [Elemental Alignment] the spear would be encased in the element and each attack would deal the standard 518 physical damage if the target had no armor. With the encasing element adding 428 more magic damage of the chosen element to each attack.


    These numbers were getting insane, and Eldrian was blown away afterparing the two. He had tried a few times but failed tobine the two. Even if he used the fire element from [Elemental Alignment] the activation of it blocked him from using Fotias.


    While a bummer, Eldrian was still impressed with both. Fotias was after all only a Tier 4 skill, and for it to do around the same damage as the ability of a Tier 7 weapon was impressive. Though that was the thing with all spells and skills, they stayed relevant since they continued to grow as the person using them did.


    Eldrian was confused about how this was possible. The mana usage remained the same, he could understand how increased strength would always lead to increased damage. But he was confused about how this worked with intelligence. For now, he epted it. But he had added it to his to-investigate list.


    The final ability that he could ess at this time was [Tempest Chase]. Sadly, it required more mana than he had within his body, and only by 60MP too. The amount missing was so little that Eldrian wanted tough and cry at how close it was, yet it was so far.


    If he wanted to use [Tempest Chase] he had to make use of his mana soul. This only meant he needed an extra second or two to cast it, but given his new speed, that time was like five to ten seconds to ordinary people.


    It made it totally unusable in a pinch, but if he had time to prepare it, it was truly a devastating ability. Most shocking perhaps was that he could already keep the ability activated for the max duration. Though to achieve this he had to use some mana from his body for thest increase, after exhausting his mana soul.


    Sadly, Eldrian had found that his mana soul did not gather mana automatically as his body did. While Crystoi''s [Fortis] did help, he needed to meditate to recover the mana of his mana soul.


    Eldrian had actually tested [Tempest Chase] once and was left without words at the might of the ability. At the cost of 21k mana, the ability would form a mini-tornado of either fire and wind or ice and wind for three and a half minutes.


    Eldrian had tested the ice and wind since he hadn''t wanted to set the surroundings on fire. To test the ability he had also naturally left the city, he had actually gone to one of the few wandering hordes yet to be cleared.


    Most monsters had died within the first few seconds, after all, each time they were hit by one of the icicles in the storm they would receive over half a thousand damage. Even Eldrian would not be able to survive for more than a handful of seconds if he stepped within its range.


    Most shocking perhaps was that the storm covered an area of around ten to twenty meters, and Eldrian could control it. It was not like Ice Rain where he had to master the spell and increase his focus and control to learn how to control it, which he had yet to do. From the getgo, Eldrian could control [Tempest Chase] to -as the name states- chase the enemy.


    This single ability was by far the strongest and made Eldrian realize clearly that he could actually make far greater contributions in a battle now. All without needing to rely on spirit magic or magical cannonballs.


    He was almost tempted to go to Vlisia to help in the siege. He managed to control his emotions after a few seconds, after the exhration of watching the mini-tornado had passed. Perhaps the most shocking part of it all was that none of the abilities of Crystoi had cooldowns.


    This was something unheard of and upon realizing this Eldrian was again left stunned. And it made him realize just how big a target he would be if he showcased what Crystoi could do. While he doubted that any people of the kingdom would be ovee with their greed, there was always the risk.


    Kynigo was a city that had treated him well, it had a mayor who was open to new people and ideas. A mayor who did not wish for much in life, who only wished for a peaceful life of living his own life. One of the few people in the world with little ambition and basically no greed.


    The same might could not be said with confidence about the other cities and their mayors, nor theirmanders. After all, many were fighting for their very lives. If they saw someone only at Tier 5 using such an amazing weapon, it would be only natural to want to take it for themselves.


    They could even reason quite logically that it would be better used in their hands.


    This was not Eldrian''s main concern though. His main concern remained Miracle. Until he had managed to sort everything out, until he could return to a normal life. Until he knew with certainty that his family was safe. Until then, he couldn''t go out to y as a hero.


    He should ce all his focus on growing stronger. While Erik''s request to make a journey of the entire travel to Taurtania would add at least a week to their travels, Eldrian would not waste that time.


    Even if he did not spend it all training, spending time with friends was never a waste.


    AN: Remember to vote if you are enjoying the story


    :)


    AN: If the AN below does not show everything, look towards the discord. I will post it there too.