Chapter 4: Cultivation Martha kept staring at Grey, happiness clearly seen on her face. “Mom, what’s going on” Grey inquired. “He was right, he’s lucky he didn’t lie to me” Martha was ecstatic “Who was right mom, what’s going on?” Grey was nervous because of his mother’s current strange behavior. “Your Father” Martha said happily. “Dad?” Grey raised his brow clearly still confused about everything that was going on. “Yes Grey, your father. He told me when you turned 12 years old, if you go for the test, there was a possibility you wouldn’t awaken your element” Martha slowly explained to her son. “Wait, he knew I wouldn’t have any affinity with any of the elements?” The confused Grey asked. “Well, it can’t really be said knew. But, yes, he did. According to the scroll, it would have to stay inside of you for fifteen years” Martha continued “Inside me, I don’t get it, did he put something inside me?” Grey still wasn’t comprehending what was going on. “Yes baby, as a newborn, you had a lot of health issues and no matter what I tried, you didn’t get any better. Your father came back from one of his adventures and seeing how unhealthy you were, he also tried his everything he could and even took you to the best healers he knew, but unfortunately, nothing worked” Martha slowly started explaining. “So, how was I cured?” Grey asked curiously. He never knew he had health problems as a newborn. “A pearl” Martha said. “A pearl? How does a pearl cure someone?” Grey asked still confused. “I’m getting to it” Martha smiled and recounted what happened to her son. During one of his father’s adventures, he accidentally stumbled upon a ruined ancient temple. He saw a pearl with myriad colors rotating slowly in the middle of a hidden room of the temple. Beneath the rotating pearl was a scripture, after reading it, he was astounded by the information it contained. He quickly kept the pearl and the cultivation technique. Yes, cultivation technique, what he thought to be a scripture was a cultivation technique. He remembered the feeling he got from the pearl and was certain it wasn’t fake. The description of the cultivation technique was unique, it stated that once one assimilates with the pearl after fifteen years, they would be able to wield all elements. Seeing this, he wanted to cultivate it, but alas, there was a catch to it. First, the pearl can only assimilate with a body that hasn’t awaken any element yet. And it would need fifteen years before completing assimilating with the body. He sadly kept the pearl and cultivation technique when he realized there was no way he could use it. He got home a week after Grey’s birth and realized the situation his son was. After trying everything he could but there was still no way to save him, he placed all his hope on the pearl. If the pearl has such a monstrous ability to give someone the ability to train all elements, then saving someone wouldn’t be impossible. Martha refused the idea when he brought it up, which mother would allow an unknown pearl to be placed in her baby? But after her husband persuaded her and seeing there was nothing they could do to save Grey, she gritted her teeth and accepted it. Two days later, her baby was as healthy as he rightly should be. Although she still took Grey to take part in the test, she didn’t know if he would awaken his element then. She also hoped there was a possibility he would awaken an element, but unfortunately, he didn’t. The notion of telling Grey about came to her when she saw how depressed he was after the test, but then again, what if after he reached fifteen years of age he didn’t awaken any elements? What would she tell him then? He would be even more traumatized than when he didn’t awaken it at the age of twelve. Even she was starting to lose hope when there wasn’t any difference in him after he passed fifteen, the scroll stated Grey should use physical exercises to hone his body which he had been doing for almost three years now. So, it was understandable she started feeling fearful about it. Grey sat down stunned by what he was hearing. “But, why didn’t you tell me earlier?” He asked. “When you passed fifteen did you awaken your element then?” Martha asked. Grey shook his head. “I know it seems like a flimsy excuse, but if I told you something was placed inside of you and you wouldn’t awaken your element by twelve rather by the time you turned fifteen, you wouldn’t believe me since it was known everywhere that one can only awaken their elements by twelve although there are a few late bloomers, it can’t be predicted from birth. Maybe after the test, you’ll start feeling what I said was true, but what about after you turned fifteen? Then what? Even I was starting to lose hope” Martha said calmly. Hearing Martha’s explanation, Grey knew she was right. There was no way he would have believed it if she told him he wouldn’t awaken his element by twelve. When he thought of all the possible heartaches his parents must have gone through due to his sickly nature as a newborn, he felt grateful to them. At least they didn’t give up hope, even when it meant placing their last hope on a pearl with unknown origins, at least they just wanted to save their child. Although the thought of it being fake and probably killing him passed through his mind, he remembered what his mother said at that time, he was dying anyway. After some time, he immediately thought back to what he heard. “So now I can be an Elementalist?” Grey asked again just to be sure. “Yes, not just any ordinary Elementalist, but one who controls all elements,” Martha said while holding Grey’s hand in joy. ‘Control over all elements’ It kept ringing in his ear. “How can someone have control over all the elements,” Grey asked with shock. “I don’t know baby, but what I do know is that your dad will never lie to me, and will not do anything to harm you too,” Martha said. “Wait here, I’m coming” Martha ran into her room and brought an ancient scroll out. She looked at Grey before handing it over to Grey calmly. “Study it closely,” She said while handing the scroll over to Grey. Grey took the scroll from her still not knowing what to do. He studied the scroll closely before opening it. Then he looked at it with great curiosity. The scroll showed him the exact way of cultivating the technique. Without the pearl, anyone can have the technique but will never be able to cultivate the technique. Grey finally calmed his thoughts. ‘No wonder mom was so confident. It truly is worth it’ Grey thought happily. Grey felt like he had regained something. It was a desire, the desire to grow strong. Ever since he was little, he had always wanted to be the strongest, but that desire died at the time of the test. But now, the fire is suddenly reignited, and the fire was burning stronger than ever. “I can finally cultivate, I will definitely work hard” Grey clenched his fists tightly Grey rushed to his room as he couldn’t wait anymore to start cultivating. He had waited for so long and now, finally, he can start cultivating. Martha looked at Grey hurrying inside and did nothing to stop him. She knew just how badly he wanted to be an Elementalists. She felt happy for him, now he can start his rise to the top. She knew it won’t be easy as he will face a lot of obstacles, but she believed he will definitely be able to overcome them. He already overcame one of such obstacles in his journey, and it was also one of the hardest. Grey went inside and immediately tried entering a meditative state, so he can clearly follow the pattern of the technique. He sat in a lotus position and stayed motionless to try to calm his mind. After 10 minutes, he finally got into a meditative state. He followed the instructions said in the scroll. He tried searching for the energy in his body, it took him close to an hour before finding it, of course after failing several times. “Found it, now for the second step” Grey was thrilled on managing to find the energy. Now the next step was to move the energy in a particular pattern in his body, he has to repeat the circle 10 times to get his body accustomed to it. Grey tried the first time and failed to even move the energy from its current location. He didn’t give up though, he didn’t give up when he found out he didn’t have any elemental affinity, talk less of now that he can cultivate with having an affinity with all elements. He tried again, which also failed. He kept on attempting it for the rest of the night with no progress. By the time he got totally exhausted, it was almost dawn. He collapsed on the floor and fell asleep there and then. His body was totally worn out from all the attempts. By the time he woke up, it was already midday. He felt pain all over his body and was still exhausted. If a normal Elementalists tried what he did, they wouldn’t be able to get out of bed for a week. The cultivation technique took a great toll on the human body. “No wonder it required such strict physical training before one can start cultivating it, if it were my previous physique before I started training, I would not have been able to get out of bed for a month” Grey exclaimed when he felt the aches all over his body. The process continued for another 2 days before Grey started making small progress. He was finally able to move it, albeit a little, it was still something. He was so happy but also felt sore all over his body for his little progress. Due to his strong training, he was able to withstand pain more than others because he wrecks his body almost every day in the training session. After another week, he was already able to complete one circle, he felt excited when he imagined himself using the different elements and couldn’t help but laugh in his bed. He couldn’t laugh properly because of all the pain his body was going through. During the process of the second circle, Grey felt the pain increased a bit. He was already starting to get used to the pain then it increased. “Hiss” Grey hissed in pain while midway of the circulation. “I can’t continue like this, this pain will probably kill before I complete the circulation. I need to come up with a way to reduce it” The pain was already getting almost unbearable for him. He had to quickly think of a way else he would go on pause then continue some other time. But, he didn’t want that. “I will head out to train tomorrow, it’s been long I trained,” Grey said. He had already gotten used to training his body, and these days he had focused fully on cultivation, he had somewhat missed it. Grey stopped the circulation and went to sleep. He will wake up early tomorrow to go for a long training session.