37 Alleviate some of that boredom (1/2)

A voice echoed through the leafs. {One who bears Gemini Lilies in his soul? Could he be the experiment the four main elemental kings were hoping to create?}

Jericho looked up. {Glaw, did you say something?}

{No I did not. What is it that you heard?} Glaw replied.

Jericho tried thinking back to the strange words he heard. {Something about Lilies and an experiment?} He replied confused.

{Ah yes. I suspected they would find out.}

{Who find out what?} Jericho felt really confused.

{Jericho, I was originally hoping to keep this a secret longer, but your existence is something the other types of elementals have been expecting. You probably didn't notice but we have actually been in wood elemental territory for a while. The wood elementals are peaceful enough and blend with the plants in the forest that they are rarely hunted or even found. They have been by a few times but seem to be speaking only now.}

{Now I am curious. Thankfully I'm not a cat like Ken is.} Jericho mildly joked.

{I think you are making a joke, but I don't get it.}

{I'll explain it another time. You were saying?}

Glaw drooped. {Do you remember the Gemini Lilies I gave you with your elemental core?}

Jericho nodded. {Yeah, what about it?}

{Let me explain the context first. Eternity is a long time. So, we elementals can end up bored. The Elemental Kings of the four main elements agreed to try an experiment of sorts to alleviate some of that boredom.}

Jericho nodded, thinking that eternity was quite a long time to live.

{Of course, experimenting is better than wreaking havoc upon the world like last time... We were wondering if it was possible to have a creature that was all 8 of the natural elements. The main four came up with the idea and the other elementals agreed. We, the water elementals, chose you to be our first experiment. I came along with you as a representative of the water elementals to help with negotiations.}

{Wait… You wanted me to become all the elements? Is that why I was given 18 Lilies? If I recall correctly only one was consumed.} Jericho inquired before confirming it with his detailed status page.

{Are you against the idea? It would be considered very helpful to you if you were. Of course we don't know what will happen if you do become more than one elemental at the same time or what will happen once you become all eight, but that is what makes this so fascinating.}

{Well, I guess the other elementals would have skills that are useful to me as a musician right?}

{Indeed they would. We originally planned on giving you eight lilies but your sister picked more than enough for us to give you more of them.}

Jericho thought for a bit. {I think i understand thanks Glaw. Can you tell me about the 8th element now? I recall Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, Electricity, Crystal, and Wood but you never told me the eighth.}

{The eighth element is a bit more ambiguous to mortal minds and there is not much mortal magic related to it. The element that is represented by the northwest is Aether. As you humans would put it, the ethereal and nethereal lie between death and chaos. The Aether lies between water and wind. There is a reason mortals sometimes refer to this element as Limbo. When an undying adventurer like yourself dies, they eject the Aether element from their body to reform a new body later. The Aether is the element that fills in the gaps of mater in your human body. Meeting an Aether elemental is rare and will be the hardest challenge in completing the experiment.}

Jericho frowned. {So, it is basically the soul element?}

{Well, I guess you could call it that but the Aether elementals would be quite irritated to hear you call it that since it is not entirely accurate.}

The bard nodded. {Then why give me 18 Gemini Lilies? Wouldn't 8 have been enough?}

Glaw gave a nod. {Indeed. The extra ten are just for insurance. That and you may get to meet the unnatural elementals which come from other unique sources of power like Light, Dark, Unholy, and Void Elementals. I doubt we could convince them to participate in the experiment but you never know. During our journey you may run across a terrible situation you cannot avoid. They may save your life. If we only had eight then if one were to be consumed prematurely then the experiment couldn't be completed.}

Jericho shook his head. {Wow, I had no idea you all had such extensive plans for me.}

{Well, you had things to get done and you never asked why we would make you a water elemental in the first place.}

{I see, so earlier you mentioned elemental kings?} Jericho half questioned.

Glaw gave a nod. {Indeed I did. Tier 4 elementals like Llyn are known as Elemental Lords. While it is hard to reach that stage, it isn't so uncommon. However breaking through to Tier 5 is extremely hard. These rare Tier 5 elementals are known as the Elemental Kings. Unless something very special happens to allow a breakthrough, an elemental will never grow past that state of growth. In the entire history of the natural world, none of us have ever broken through that barrier. Part of our curiosity is to see if creating an existence with all the elements would allow such a breakthrough.}

Jericho frowned in thought. {So, an elemental King is the highest stage for an elemental? There are limits?}

The water elemental nodded once more. {Every creature has its racial limits. Unless something happens to allow a breakthrough, their skill line will stop. If you are a success, and are able to grow to tier 6, you will be the highest ranked elemental in the world and will likely become our new ruler. Because of this, we couldn't choose any random human, we had to find a human that thought similarly to an elemental.} Glaw interrupted.