72 Elemental Control: Inwards

Xander, after leaving the building, headed to his next class. After a few minutes of walking, he arrived at the entrance, scanned his watch, and went straight to the second floor where he began to eat his lunch, a different combination this time.

However, like the week before, his lunch was interrupted by the group of 6 people he can consider friends, joining him in the same table.

They began to talk about their experiences and even asked Xander what he thought about it. Xander casually responded, basing it on his experience, leaving the others confused, while some got something from what he said.

He asked them if they are prepared for the next lesson on elemental control, which led to confusion being painted on their faces. Xander rolled his eyes, and after slurping his third scoop of noodles, he said,

"This week's lesson is all about fine control in the body. This is going to focus on how you use raw elemental particles and energy from the outside to be transformed inside your bodies. There are numerous applications, such as transforming a certain part of your body by covering it by a specific type of element, such as fire, creating things out of your imagination."

When Xander said this, he opened his palm, and his friends could see the surrounding elements being absorbed by the hand, before turning the hand crystal-like, which then slowly increased in size and mass, forming a small scythe, then after two seconds, transforming into a shield, after another two seconds, it then transformed into a machine gun, before Xander transformed it into a detachable ice grenade, which Xander launched up to the ceiling, causing shouts of surprise and shock to occur to the staff and his friends.

However, before it even reached the ceiling, it stopped midway and exploded, but the explosion was contained, and only produced crystal-like particles, forming into a dense cloud, which then shrank and condensed into a crystal ball, falling firmly into Xander's hands. Maryann, who had a strong affinity for the Ice element, eyed the ball yearningly.

Xander then continued his discussion, after slurping another spoonful of noodles.

"First, I showed you guys how elements are absorbed by the body, and only in a certain section of the body; this is an example of good inward elemental control. Second, you saw my hand crystallize; this is a physical effect that differs depending on your selected element. It could be burning for fire, transparent for wind, very heavy for the earth, metallic sheen for metal, etc., it really is a good indicator of what your opponent is proficient in. However, they can mislead you as well.

Changing the crystal color to blue, or changing the initial rigidness to being soft, it could be mistaken as Water element, making your enemy prepare in error. Third, you saw that in the section of my hand that crystallized, they began to increase in size and accumulate before transforming into a variety of things. In truth, when you do this, you actually extend the connection of your life essence dolls to the elements in your hand, allowing you to shape them accordingly. When I transformed it into a grenade, one that can be launched far away and explode, before coalescing into a cloud and condensing into an orb, this is an example of combining inward and outward control."

"What I didn't show you guys is how painful and difficult it is when you try to release them out of your bodies. It's also not that easy to do inward control that can be beneficial in a fight or a job. Most likely, Ms. Wineheart will just teach you how inward control can help you in Magic meditation for now, then save this trick I showed you for the last 2 days. That's why I'm asking if you guys were prepared." Xander said as he finished the last spoonful of noodles, and then he drank the broth completely, smacking his lips in delight afterward.

Upon hearing what he said, the students were quiet and were more determined than ever to learn more about the inward control of elements. They wanted to reach the same expertise Xander demonstrated because they realized that the things Xander gave focus on were never a wasted effort, and were always beneficial in the long run for magicians.

Truthfully, Xander didn't tell them the other applications because they don't have the foundations for these applications.

After all, besides selecting a part of your body to transform, you can change your entire body into an elemental avatar as well, but the side-effects were quite dangerous if one isn't a Mythic class or above.

Another would be using elements to recover from injuries. This is different from guiding the elements to stimulate the life in the cells, tissues, and organs of the body. Simply put, it is the mimicry of the elemental particles and energy of actual organs in the body. However, only highly talented Divine magicians or those in the Sage class or higher can do this perfectly.

After all, it required one to have the capacity to convert the element into the necessary element to do the specific function of the organs. Once one reaches Divine class and above anyways, their most important organs would be their brain and their heart.

To truly kill them, one needs to destroy their elemental stones. If they aren't destroyed, after a few years, decades, centuries, and even millennia, the organs would grow back again.

Of course, this can be accelerated by someone proficient in the life element series, but the time of their brain and heart death is enough for their enemies to harvest their bodies, and wipe the remnant connection it has with their bodies and the universe, allowing them to become magic artifacts.

Xander could do something similar to this, causing the elements to turn into physical matter and combine into the right sequences and structure to form the missing organ. However, it would take 5 seconds of complete concentration to do this, 20 if he was doing something else.

With their silence, Xander was able to eat his meal in peace and silence, as they were now focused on reading the books and materials they had for the class. Of course, they were eating their ordered food as well.

The Iceball that he made was just placed by the side of his food, chilling. After 30 minutes, Maryann, who just finished her food asked Xander,

"Xander is that orb… an Eternal ice source?"

"Hmm? Yes. It's low quality though, not really good. However, it's a good addition to ice cream and a cold drink." Xander replied, and with one swift motion, grabbed the ball, and crushed it, before mixing it to his ice cream.

The remaining bits were placed in glass that contained citrus juice. There wasn't much change appearance-wise but when Xander began to eat the ice cream, there was visible ice forming around his face and mouth, shocking Maryann and the others.

However, Xander continued to act like he didn't hear them, take more and more of the ice cream, until nothing was left. By this point, his face was pale blue, a contrast to the rest to the rest of his body. Xander then let out a breath, releasing a stream of mist, his face turning back to normal.

"Ahhhhh... quite refreshing." He then reached to get his drink, and Maryann asked him before he could continue,

"Er, Xander… can I taste the drink?"

"Eh? Are you sure you want to do so?" Xander looked at her quizzically. Maryann didn't hesitate when she nodded her headed. Xander handed her the glass of citrus.

"Just a sip ok? You might not handle more than that. It packs quite strong." Maryann, hearing Xander's warning, paused for a bit before nodding in response, and got a sip from the drink.

Immediately, upon contact with the insides of her mouth, a very cooling, calming sensation enveloped her tongue, numbing it, before being swallowed, causing the coldness to travel down into her stomach. It was like a burst of freshness followed by a cooling, numbing feeling. By this time, the problem was becoming apparent. The moment she set the glass down the table, she froze.

A blue hue started to cover her body, starting from her mouth extending all the way below her ribs, and it was rapidly spreading. The others looked alarmed and looked at Xander for help, who just sighed.

'I can't help her. She's actually gaining enlightenment right now for being in contact with a little bit of Eternal ice source. She really is a genius. The problem is, her body would be encased in ice for a long period of time. Better call her parents." Once he finished saying that, everyone saw that Maryann's body was completely covered in a blue hue, which then began to deepen as she was encased in ice, Forming a solid 5-inch thick ice around her body.

Valerie and others wanted to help, surrounding their hands with elements, but before they could, Xander said to them,

"If you want to disturb Maryann's enlightenment and cause her to stagnate at the Elite class for the rest of her life, by all means, use your elements to hold the ice, causing it to react with your elements." When they heard what he said, they all stopped and looked helplessly at the sculpture, then at Xander, who raised his hands.

"…Can someone contact Ms. Wineheart to contact Maryann's parents to explain the situation? Leave the part about the Eternal ice source though."

It was Alexa who contacted Maryann's parents. After all, her family and Maryann's were quite close to one another due to research interactions.

After around 15 minutes, Alexa's communicator buzzed, and the worried look of Maryann's parents could be seen. Alexa used her privileges to let them into the building, allowing them to see Maryann's state.

Her father tried to check her vital signs, but the machine couldn't read anything. Xander shook his head and said,

"Don't bother testing the ice or her vital signs. She's fine. However, the ice encapsulating her has characteristics of density, rejection, and frigidness, thus her body is currently isolated from any form of analysis; in fact, you can say that the space she is in is separated from our space. She in a state of enlightenment, so no one can move her while using elemental energy to hold the ice or risk disrupting and crippling her. If you want to move her, you have to do it yourself and bear the brunt of the coldness, or get a Mythic Ice sprite to do so, one that you can trust." Her father, a rational man, stopped what he was doing after hearing Xander's explanation. It was, after all, something that made sense with the current situation.

"My name is Harold Dykes. You must be Xander, my daughter's friend?"

"Yes, Mr. Harold."

"Can you explain to me what happened to my daughter that caused her to go into enlightenment?"

"Oh, you see, it's like this…" Xander began to spin a bullshit story. Of course, the video recordings in the cafeteria were deleted, so no further investigation can be done. Seeing that all information seemed connected to one another and no conflicting points were present, he nodded.

"Thank you, Xander. I plan to hold the ice itself. It's not that cold, is it?"

"Not really, just around -300 to -250 degrees Celsius. It's a bit lower than absolute zero." Xander replied, rubbing the ice around Maryann, without any changes in his skin. When the rest heard the temperature, they were astonished. Why hasn't the room began to cool down as well?

Looking their astonished faces, Xander rolled his eyes before saying,

"Didn't I mention the ice had sub-elements that isolated it from the rest of the world? It also means the ice's natural cooling capacity to affect entropy around it would also be isolated, thus the coldness is just contained within it. Anyone can easily hold the ice and even carry it out because it's temperature would just seem like the air's temperature." Upon hearing the terms Xander mentioned, Harold's eyes brightened, as well as his wife, as if realizing something. The other students, with the exception of Alexa, were quite confused as well, since it wasn't their field of research.

Alexa, on the other hand, was quite pressed, wanting to ask Xander what he knew but recognizing the look he made, she knew she had to pay SCPs…but she didn't have any right now…

Harold and his wife carried the block of ice where their daughter was encased in, bidding farewell to the students. Xander was assured that they would take care of Maryann in the meantime, because he cross-checked the available records and information about her parents and family, and saw that none of them were problematic. They were considered Class III researchers in Eteria for their research contribution, so it kind of made sense.

After the fiasco was done, he cleaned out his table after finishing his food and placed them in the disposal machine. The rest followed as well, and they all headed down to the classroom. Xander greeted his classmates and talked for a bit before falling into Magic meditation since that's all he can do right now. He had also asked permission so that he would be exempted from the activities, which Ms. Wineheart wholeheartedly agreed. After 20 minutes, class officially began with Ms. Wineheart entering and starting the discussion on control.

She basically repeated what Xander said but in a simpler, more detailed, and less-complicated form.

First, Inward elemental control requires one to be able to control the flow of elements from the outside, to the inside.

Second, it requires you to be able to convert the absorbed elements under your control. Once you have converted them to your control, you have two options:

First, manipulate the controlled elements inside your body to do specific functions, such as create a defensive layer around one's body, lower your temperature, etc. This is harder to do because it requires finer control and sturdiness from your physical body.

Second, manipulate the controlled elements to your life essence doll and magic seeds and magic spell circles; here, you are replicating Magic meditation - active state. You can use the controlled elements to boost your comprehension or guide it, as well as increase your healing speed.

The last step is dispersal. After using the controlled elements, you either convert them into magic energy and disperse all over your body, or expunge it from the body. Another possible action is that in its pure elemental form, let one's body absorb it, refining it, and make it stronger, allowing it to have characteristics of the elements.

For today and the next 3 days, they'll only be doing the second type, and everyone began to work. According to her planned schedule, the class would continue on this lesson for the next two weeks, as they will begin to explore the different methods and uses. The week after that, they had their midterms, the same week as their Basic Magic Training class midterm. Xander, on the other hand, was still sleeping and wasn't disturbed by his other classmates, as Ms. Amelia already explained the situation.

Xander for the next 3 hours, Xander was actually creating his mirror image, placing it on the planet Eon. However, it was just an empty shell right now. However, he tried commanding it actively and it was quite fun for him to experience it. For two hours, he was just playing around his control of the mirror image.

He then used [Simultaneous Projection], allowing him to bestow his abilities to the mirror image that he controls, warping it to a mountain deep in the woodland of Arder, where he then sealed the surrounding space and canceled the [Simultaneous Projection]. It was a success since he was also testing the connection stability if there would be a case where the mirror image would be trapped or isolated in a location that blocks elements.

Once class was over, Xander woke up, and greeted his classmates' goodbye, and left the classroom. It was at this point Xander noticed someone moving towards him, and turned to see it was James, who was smiling at Xander.

"Yo, Xander."

"Hi, James."

"…"

"…"

There was a calming silence between the two as they walked towards the school gates. Halfway through, James initiated the conversation.

"So, Xander, I'm planning to contact the number you gave me tonight. Should I prepare anything?"

"Prepare to sign the non-disclosure binding contract, and make sure no forms of surveillance is around you… Be careful." Xander replied to him, but at the end of his statement, he paused a bit, before giving him a word of caution. Of course, this was to add to the dramatic effect surrounding the mysterious person. He also wanted to try something as well…

Xander left the campus after talking a bit more with James, who relaxed and began talking about his favorite subjects of discussion. It was a mutual exchange, however, where Xander also gave his counter ideas relating to sociology and history.

The drive to the villa was quite smooth, taking him around 10 minutes. Upon arrival, he saw Joseph and his own team at the entrance of the villa, being barred by the new guards.

Xander, not wasting any more time with the lot of them, merely said,

"Let them in, they'll be in charge of the internal locations, as well as day-to-day necessities that I require. James, you and your team will be the first line of defense. If you die, it means everyone dies in the villa, so do your jobs well. No need to protect them as they are soldiers, like you. If they die, they die doing their jobs."

Xander then entered the villa, and headed to the laboratory, staying there for 1 hour, checking the overall situation in the plants and mountains. He then modified the pressure of the area, allowing the place to self-create its own elemental crystals so every time he comes in, he could harvest them; he also did that for gems, metals, and crystals being formed in the mountain. No sentience or sentient lifeforms have been formed, which he attributed to the presence of the two types of trees. Sadly, no fruit development had begun in any of the trees.

The two trees of destruction in the middle, on the other hand, continued to distort space and time and everything else around it, and another leaf had begun to grow and appear. When he meditated in the area where destruction and creation power met, he felt his understanding of Life-death elements as well as parts of the Order and Chaos elements were being improved; when he checked the system, he was quite surprised that his comprehension for these 3 elements rose by 3% as well, with his space-time increasing by another 1%.

In fact, the experience allowed him to deduce a Demigod-ranked spell that contained traces of Life-Death, Order, Chaos, and space-time elements. After a while, he named it as [Cycle of Eternal Repose].

[Cycle of Eternal Repose]: The caster selects a target to experience creation and destruction, life and death over and over again, for a total of 108,108,108 times. They cannot distinguish if what they are experiencing is reality or just a dream, because it is a combination of both that their life-essence dolls are experiencing. The process lasts for 60 minutes, cannot be canceled, cannot be interrupted once cast.

If the target survives the cycle, he gets permanently ejected from the Universe, automatically breaking through to God class. His connection to the universe, such as friends, family, enemies, his life essence, and his domain, is severed completely. If he doesn't survive the cycle, he dies a complete death, and all his alternate realities within the universe are wiped out of existence, from past, present, and future.

This spell can be used to promote ordinary, non-sentient creatures and objects to sentience, and after completing the cycle, they are promoted to the Demigod-3 stage automatically.

After reading the description, he was shocked at the brutal effects of the spell. Yeah, it was a good spell that can boost you to God rank, but then throwing you out of the universe afterward, with no guidance or clue on how to survive?

Then he headed to Eden. Both Sam and Pan were already Demigod-1 sprites, surpassing 1 million years of age, nearing 2 million. His other three contracted beings were also at the Demigod-1 stage, but a bit younger than Sam and Pan.

He told Sam and Pan that they can leave tomorrow once he returns again when they passed the Demigod-2 stage. Xander harvested some of the sentient plants' fruits, as well as the ones produced by the plant and underwater sprites. He also checked some of the metals, gems, and crystals being produced, harvesting a few tonnes of each kind he could find. Their quality ranged from Flawless to Immortal quality, with purity rates of 90 to 98%. What surprised him the most in this visit was that the fruits in the first Tree of Life were already nearing ripeness, probably 1 more day would do it. The second tree of life had half the size of the first one, so the fruits would probably be ready in 6 days, so around Sunday.

He exited and ate the dinner prepared by the twins, a different cuisine this time that the two researched while they were out, causing Xander to enjoy greatly. He then headed to his room on the second floor, and checked if space had already mended; there was still a large crack, roughly a meter or two long and wide, but many times smaller than before. It was still uninhabitable, as it warped some of the physical matter that came close to it. He left and headed to his temporary room, and began to prepare his second mirror image. He was waiting for the call James will be making. I wonder, what spells will he choose, Xander asked himself playfully.