Extra's Ascent

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

Aldrich could only curse, though he knew it wouldn't change his predicament one bit.

Still, if he didn't vent his frustration, he feared he might go insane from the absurdity of the situation he had been involuntarily thrust into.

Thousands of meters above the ground, Aldrich and the rest of the newly admitted first years were plummeting at breakneck speed with nothing but their bodies to shield them.

'They expect us to survive a fall from this height?!'

From the dizzying height, the ground was barely visible, a mere speck in the distance.

The reality of it all was sinking in fast, too fast to quite grasp in haste.

If they continued falling at this rate, their bodies would crash into the earth with brutal force, bones shattered, blood staining the ground, their flesh making an unceremonious mark on the floor.

That was the grim fate that awaited them if Aldrich didn't act fast.

'No! I need to stay calm and think this through. I have to be as rational as possible.'

He was anything but calm, but rationality was all he had left if he wanted to survive.

That, and perhaps a bit of luck.

Thinking it through, the situation wasn't as hopeless as it seemed.

Yes, the speed at which he was falling would undoubtedly lead to a gruesome end, but that was only by normal human standards.

Mystics, as they were known, defied the ordinary.

Their entire existence was built around transcending human limits and logic.

As a mystic, wasn't a problem that couldn't be overcome, it shouldn't be.

Aldrich just needed to keep his head together and think.

He needed to focus.

He needed a plan to get him through... A plan.

'Wait! Where's Trevor?!'

Aldrich's only reason for being here was to look after Trevor.

In his drunken state, Trevor was far from prepared for something like this.

If he was falling alongside Aldrich, there was no way he would survive.

This trial was meant for the newly admitted students, and Aldrich was certain Trevor was among the first-years plummeting alongside him.

Aldrich needed to focus on finding him.

'No way. Worrying about Trevor when I'm in deep shit myself won't help.'

The Institute took a dim view of students dying.

There was one thing Aldrich was sure of: no student would actually die in this trial.

However, the consequences of failing the trial were another matter entirely.

A social death would be worse than any physical demise.

A student who failed would be reduced to nothing more than a shuttle, a puppet bound to serve the whims of others, and Aldrich had no intention of suffering that fate.

His mind raced as he scrambled for a solution, grasping at any idea that might work.

But then, something odd caught his attention.

One of the students falling beside him was already acting.

The student, a male, was manipulating his owned elemental Art? wind, to control the air pressure and slow his fall.

The wind Art formulas he drew below him created a visible flow of air, gradually decreasing his descent.

It was a brilliant use of elemental Art, an advanced manoeuvre designed to slow a freefall.

The kind of thing Aldrich could only dream of pulling off.

'Great idea. Maybe I could do that too?!... No! Impossible!'

There was a reason the student could succeed whereas Aldrich couldn't.

And it wasn't just because of his talent.

Elemental Art:

Primary Owned Element: Lightning (E)

Primary Held Elements: Fire (E), Water (E), Earth (E), Wind (E)

Aldrich's elemental Art profile revealed the difference.

The student was using wind, and for that to work the way it did, his primary owned element needed to be wind, not just something he held.

To perform such a feat, one needed mastery at the B or A level, something the student had likely achieved.

Aldrich's control over wind was rudimentary at best, learned only through training and still at the E level.

The wind Art the student was using required a deeper connection, an understanding that only came from owning the element, not just holding it.

To be at the age he is and at the same time pull off an advanced type of wind element, the only explanation can be that he owned the element, and not the other way around.

Aldrich could try to replicate it with his owned primary element, lightning, but the fundamental difference in elemental properties to wind would make such an attempt futile.

Lightning and wind were vastly different, and Aldrich had no hope of using wind Art with the same expertise as the other students.

That didn't mean he was completely without options.

'Alternative?! I think I have something!'

Amid his panic, a possible solution struck him.

It was a method developed by none other than Dwayne Aldaman, the youngest LORD candidate.

The technique involved manipulating mana at a concentrated level to form a protective body shield, capable of withstanding physical damage.

The method was complicated and exhausting, requiring an immense mana reserve, but it held promise.

If Aldrich could learn to use that technique, he might just survive this fall.

However, there was one problem: Dwayne's body shield had never been tested in a fall from this height.

It was still just a theory.

Still, Aldrich couldn't afford to hesitate.

The wind howled around him, the chaos of the fall overwhelming all his senses, but he focused, gathering every ounce of mental strength he could muster.

He didn't have much time.

'Focus. Think. Control the mana.'

He closed his eyes for a brief moment, trying to ignore the terror of falling.

His mind delved deep into his elemental understanding, summoning the lightning within him, calling forth the mana.

The air around him crackled with the faintest hint of energy.

Aldrich struggled to concentrate, feeling the burn of mana at his core, his doubts threatening to pull him under.

But there was no time for second-guessing.

If he did not act now, the consequences were too dire to imagine.