Chapter 96 - Falling From The Skies
The world did not know that while the metal attribute was hailed as the strongest element, it is not. The five basic elements of nature were equal. They each have their own advantages and disadvantages. It was only due to the royal family's vast possession of cultivation knowledge that they were able to bring out the best of their abilities.
A lot of preparation was required for metals to be in their strongest form. The metal element wasn't readily useable for metal-users as elements does for other awakeners. Without processing the ores, metal would still be buried tens to hundreds of feet beneath the earth, making metal-users be like birds without wings. Thus, depending on the environment, they could become a natural domain for the awakener. Like the saying goes, a strong dragon cannot repress the local snake.
When Leon was handed the [Myriad Metal Compendium Vol.1/10], he had no intention to start reading any time soon. Although it looked like headache to read the entire book, it was not a problem for Leon. He had an advantage that no one else in Gaia had; his divine sense. With a sweep of his divine sense, he could read the book hundreds of times faster than he could with his trained eyes.
But to learn the contents of the book, he would have to sweep the book numerous times and digest the information slowly. This was not a problem for Leon. The problem was that it was very taxing to use his divine sense beyond his body for extended periods. Divine State practitioners could naturally sweep hundreds of meters of their surrounding with their divine sense freely, but Leon was no longer a Divine State practitioner. The usage of his divine sense would naturally be limited as a result his lack of cultivation and spirit body.
Before going back to recover his peak state and resume pill concoction, there was a something he needed to clarify with his mother.
"Mother, did we fly over just now?" Leon asked suspiciously.
The feeling had only lasted a brief moment, but the weightlessness and air brushing feeling made him believe his mother was capable of flight.
"Hoho, you are very perceptive, son. Yes, we have flown over just now." Elizabeth answered. She didn't expect her son to be able to perceive anything, given the speed they had travelled at just now.
Hearing his mother's confirmation, Leon suddenly realized something. He understood why his mother's body was adorned with all those accessories and trinkets. By manipulating these items, his mother was capable of flight. But such method wasn't considered true flight.
Divine practitioners were capable of true flight at the Heaven Ascension Realm, but one only need to reach the Energy Condensation Realm and refine a spirit sword to be able to soar through the skies. However, awakeners were still one step ahead of divine practitioners to be able to fly so early at this stage in cultivation. Perhaps he was also capable of flying at his current awakening cultivation.
After Leon bade farewell to his mother, he headed back to his courtyard. The room was being cleaned by palace maids. Their smoky-black faces showed their unhappiness with the job, but they did not dare to direct it at him, the culprit.
"Your Highness." The guards greeted upon entry.
"Mm." Leon acknowledged their greeting with a nod and found himself a spot in the courtyard to sit down and practice his [Hegemony of Primal Chaos]. The world's energy gathered to him in a slow but steady stream.
Half an hour later, his cultivation didn't increase but he had recovered to his peak mental state.
"Your Highness, the pill cauldron you ordered."
The palace guard took the chance to inform him of the pill cauldron delivery. It had arrived much earlier, but seeing the prince cultivating, he chose not to disturb and waited quietly. Every awakener knew better than to disturb another awakener's cultivation.
"What is your name?" Leon asked. He was not ignorant of the guard's small action of consideration. Although it wouldn't cause any detrimental effects if he was disturbed during cultivation, he still had a good impression of the guard.
"I-It is Howard, your highness."
After being taken aback the prince's sudden interest in his name, the guard was flattered by the honor.
"Thank you, Howard. You can just leave the pill cauldron there."
Leon didn't say too much and set aside the pill cauldron for another matter.
"Fire-users should also be capable of flight, right?"
He silently pondered as he entered a strange leaping stance.
Howard joined the other palace guards as they watched the prince. They couldn't understand his highness wanted to do.
"What do you guys think his highness is trying to do?" Howard whispered to the guards.
"I feel like his highness is trying to jump."
"Are you being serious? Would jumping require such an exaggerated leaping stance?"
Their questions were answered in the next startling moment.
A strong burst of fire impacted the ground where the soles of Leon's feet were, and his figure was shot high into the skies swiftly. Leon was no stranger to flight, but it was under the circumstance that he had full control over his ability to fly. Flying through clever usage and control of his fire ability was a new experience to him, and he had no mastery over this new skill.
The moment he started free falling from the skies, not only did he started panicking, even Howard and the palace guards started panicking. If he didn't break his fall, the injuries he would sustain from such high fall would not be light.
"Quick! Get ready to catch his highness!" Howard shouted to the other guards.
The palace guards were all earth-users and had no way of controlling the earth to help with the entire place made of metal. They could only stretch their arms out and shuffling back and forth chaotically, while looking up.
Falling headfirst, Leon tried to break his fall by thrusting the air using his fire ability with great force and was launched even higher into the skies.
…
Elizabeth was on her way to the outer palace when the soft bang forced glance back from her. What she saw made her heart freeze with fright. Just when she was about to fly over and catch her free-falling son, she paused her steps. Her son had shot back up into the skies with a burst of fire.
She watched as her son flipped and spin in the sky chaotically as he tried to regain his bearing. She sighed in relief when Leon seemed to have become familiar with his fire flight ability and was able to hover in the sky stably.
"Haih… this child… doesn't even realized how much he is making his mother worried." Elizabeth shook her head with a distressed yet amusing smile. She was surprised by her son's quick wits and intuitiveness. He was able to derive from her flight ability and gain enough insight to not only create his own flight ability but master it in such a short time.
Indeed, there was no weak element and only weak awakeners. An awakener's abilities are only limited by their own imagination. Her son was a genius with such remarkable and skillful flame control.
Elizabeth mood was jubilant, but she had mix feelings about Leon's attainments in his fire ability. She naturally wished for Leon to be a metal-user, but he had already found his own path in the fire element.
"Haih…"
Elizabeth heaved another sigh and continued her trip to the outer palace. The ruler of Crawford Kingdom was required to be a metal-user as set by their ancestors, but she could only worry it later as she currently had things to settle.
The moment she took her eyes off her son, he suddenly fell out of the sky.
…
Leon had become familiar with his new flight ability and continued testing different maneuvers in the sky with growing interest. This method of flying was much more exciting than how Energy Condensation Realm practitioners fly by surfing on their spirit swords.
He was having a lot of fun in the sky when he suddenly unable to produce anymore fire essence to keep him afloat in the skies and started plummeting. He was immediately shocked! He had depleted his fire essence reserves!
"Ahhhh!"
"Your highness!"
The palace guards shouted. They couldn't rest easy the entire time with Leon flying in the sky, even after he had mastered his flight ability. The queen had put them in charge of his safety and they were always under constant fear that their heads would roll if they didn't do a good job. Thus, they had never relaxed their guard and... finally something happened!
When Leon plummeted, they immediately reacted!
Howard was one step ahead and broke Leon's fall by catching him with a forward leap. The two landed on the ground with a bang, but not much damage was received from the crash.
"Are you alright, your highness?" The guards asked.
"I'm alright. Thanks for catching me." Leon said as he picked himself off the ground and dusted his clothes with some embarrassment. To think that he had overlooked his fire seed's fast depleting essence reserve.
The expenditure of flying was tremendous and at his current level, he was only capable of short flight. However, he had gained much insight from the short flight and feel his fire flight ability could still be improved. With better control, he would be able to reduce his consumption to some degree. Otherwise, he could just improve his cultivation.
…