Chapter 390: Bringer of Ruin

Stella waited in anticipation that Ashlock would agree to her idea.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Aether affinity didn't suit him as it encompassed fluid movement through reality, and he was... well, a tree. Sure, he had Bastions and liked to move the sect members around. But at the end of the day, he wasn't going to use it to its full potential. This realization saddened Stella until she discovered another possibility. In Valandor's understanding, she had been shown a side to the spatial affinity she had never seen before. It's raw potential for untold destruction and ruin. While spatial Qi held reality together, if someone were to use their control over it nefariously, they could wield entropy.

"Desolation affinity?" Ashlock said. "I have never heard of such an affinity before. Does it really exist?"

Stella nodded enthusiastically. Not only does it exist, it's absolutely perfect for you. She was deadset on trying to sell the idea of this affinity to him as she believed it was worth it despite the ruin it would bring to the nine realms.

"How did you learn about it?" Ashlock asked.

Stella coughed into her hand before beginning a short lecture.

"From my various enlightenments and taking on the teachings from others, I have concluded that affinities can be viewed as an upside-down tree." She wreathed her finger in aether Qi and drew a diagram in the air to illustrate her points as cultivators tended to tune out of discussions if there weren't diagrams to look at, "The trunk represents the fundamental affinities upon which reality is built. Things like fire, water, earth. In our reality, these are the affinities with the widest range of applications and are also easy to cultivate as their Qi is common. You can build upon these affinities by learning daos, which are basically the rules that make up reality." Her eyes flickered to the Redclaws present in the room. "For example, the Redclaws could learn lava dao and control lava. Right?"

Grand Elder Redclaw hummed in agreement, "Yes, but—"

"You don't have lava Qi." Stella finished his sentence.

"Exactly," he nodded, "While I can control lava if it's there, I can't manifest it out of my fire Qi like I could a firestorm, for example."

Stella pointed to a branch, "If the trunk of this tree represents fire Qi, one of the most fundamental but basic affinities, this branch here is lava Qi. If someone cultivated lava affinity, could they still use fire Qi?"

Elaine was the one to answer, "Usually yes. There are exceptions, but most cultivators that cultivate higher tier affinities can use lower tier ones."

"Interesting, so why don't they?" Stella countered as she shifted her focus to the girl. In a way, she was getting slightly off-topic, but for the first time in what felt like forever, she was the one with more information about the world than those around her, and she was eager to share her findings with them. Partly because she felt smart doing so... but also because she wanted to give back to those who had taught her.

Elaine pushed up her glasses while looking confused. "What do you mean?"

"Let's take an ice cultivator, for example. Do you ever see them attacking with water balls? Or waves of water?"

"No, you don't." Grand Elder Redclaw mused as he leaned back in his chair. "Those guys always come in with ice golems and snow storms."

"What about you, Diana?" Stella turned to her friend sitting nearby, "Since obtaining the demonic mist affinity, how often do you use water techniques?"

"Rarely," Diana admitted.

"And why is that?"

Diana crossed her arms, thinking, "Hmm, they are just worse?" she said after a while, "They also feel strange and inefficient when I tried using them recently. I mean, my soul is optimized to process and wield demonic mist Qi. I can convert it into water Qi and use my old water Qi techniques, but I don't find many situations where that would be necessary. What is your point, though?"

"Hold on, I'm getting to that." Stella pointed to the diagram, "Back to fire, this branch represents lava Qi. We all agree that someone can have lava Qi affinity and still use fire Qi techniques. Meanwhile, someone with fire Qi can use lava techniques so long as they comprehend the dao and there is lava Qi that happens to be nearby to manipulate. Right?"

Everyone nodded.

Stella gestured to the other branches coming off this branch, "We can all agree that Lava Qi is a high-tier affinity, but we can get even higher-tier ones like volcanic affinity. The point is that the branches keep sprawling out with new and more specific possibilities. The further you go from the fundamental affinities, the more specialized the type of affinity the cultivator can wield. Now, the point I was trying to make," she paused to take a breath, "Is that a special few affinities sit outside this model, and spatial is one such example."

"Isn't spatial a higher tier affinity?" Ashlock asked.

"That's what I also believed, and let's assume it is. That means it would be one of these branches. If so, can you use fire, earth, or water Qi?"

"No..." Ashlock trailed off. "I can use those daos, but not those Qi types."

"Wouldn't that make spatial one of the fundamental affinities?" Stella suggested.

"I suppose so? It must be a low-tier affinity if I cannot use any other affinity."

Stella pointed to random branches, "Can any of these higher-tier affinities, such as lava, ice, storm, and more, use spatial Qi?"

Ash thought for a while before concluding, "I doubt it."

Stella nodded, "Right, which is why I consider it a special case to the rule. Because of that, it cannot be included in this diagram. It sits beyond it alongside some other affinity types that govern reality on a higher level than simple elements. Hence, we consider it a higher-tier affinity."

"She's surpassed you?" Diana frowned, "I thought you were on the cusp of reaching Nascent Soul Realm."

"I am and have begun creating my infant soul," he replied simply, "Yet I don't think I would last one second in a fight against Stella."

Diana nodded slowly, "I know what you mean. Having absolute authority over an affinity makes it seem like having another limb rather than a power you borrowed from the heavens. Wow, this is ridiculous. There's no way she could do this before learning aether Qi law."

"And this is just writing on some notebooks," Grand Elder Redclaw pointed out, "Imagine fighting against this in battle? I wouldn't have a chance to finish casting a technique before she steps out of the aether behind me and rams a dagger through my heart."

Diana sighed in apparent frustration.

"What are you two getting so hung up over?" Sebastian Silverspire smiled, "I agree Stella is a genius, but nobody makes me feel as inferior as my young master Ryker."

"That's true," Diana soured and slothfully fell back against her chair, "He's what... five? Yet already in the Star Core Realm."

Sebastian simply nodded, and everyone fell silent, seemingly thinking over their inferior talent.

"Done!" Stella suddenly shouted, jolting them out of their gloomy thoughts. The books fell to the table, and the pens vanished into her spatial ring. "Heavens, that was fucking painful," she cursed while massaging her temples, "My brain feels like it's going to melt out my ears as a soup."

Diana raised her hand and spewed mist at her, and as it faded away, it revealed a grumpy-looking Stella with damp hair clinging to her face.

"Not funny," she frowned.

"Did it cool you down though?" Diana countered.

"Of course not!" Stella rolled her eyes, "Your mist isn't even cold. It's closer to boiling hot."

"Bah, be more appreciative." Diana waved her off, "Ever since you gained aether Qi law, you've gotten a big head."

Stella huffed, "You're just jealous, aren't you?"

"No comment."

Ashlock ignored their squabbling and picked up one of the books. Flicking to a random page, he found a technique titled Desolation Field. The description was... long. He speed-read the ancient runes Stella had scribbled down with impressively good handwriting and got the gist of the technique's capabilities. He looked at a few more to satisfy his curiosity and concluded that this was exactly what he needed.

Desolation affinity was basically spatial Qi with the added flavor of bringing ruin to everything his presence touched. In his domain, weapons would rust, plants would wither, monsters would feel the Life sucked from them, and reality would crumble. It wasn't flashy or pretty like Stella's aether flames. But it seemed extremely powerful, especially for him, as it would thrive off his extensive reach and Qi pool.

"System, do you think I can upgrade my affinity to desolation?"

[It's possible because desolation affinity builds upon spatial affinity that you already have a deep understanding of. The main thing that will hold you back is a profound understanding of the daos to which you wish to bring desolation. You can't just break apart something you don't understand]

Ashlock thought over the list of daos he currently comprehended. Fire, water, earth, wind, metal, shadow and soul. While he didn't have every one, due to the daos he had to gather to form his Inner World, he had all the fundamental ones.

"These should be enough to deal with the encroaching storm of the beast tide," Ashlock mused, "System, what will it take to learn desolation affinity?"

[I will have to absorb the knowledge of those books through Quill, and you will have to let half of your Inner World succumb to ruin so we can begin slowly converting your spatial Qi reserves to desolation Qi. Once your 9th soul moon reflects the altering of your Inner World and embraces desolation, you will have gained it permanently]

Ashlock returned his focus to the room.

"Stella..."

His daughter, who was on the floor wrestling with Diana and easily winning, looked up at the ceiling, "Yes, Tree?"

"Bring the books to Quill's library. I'm going to take on desolation affinity."

"Whooo!" She punched the air and vanished in a flash of white flames.

Diana sat up and frowned, "This isn't fair."

Grand Elder Redclaw patted her on the shoulder, "Life is like that sometimes. Just ambush her or something next time."