Frontier Online

Both Wrong! Part 39

As the vines closed around Urginok and Rydr, the tank huddled closer to his Titan friend. Once the thorny death was two meters from them, the brown-haired man totally stopped his taunt and threw himself down at the vines beside Rydr.

Urginok grabbed what vines he could and added his strength score of thirty to Rydr's efforts. Together the two of them bent their backs and strained against the vines beneath them.

Their health bars decreased nearly in tandem with each other, their blood absorbing into the monster they were trying to uproot. The crash of earth surrounded them as more of the chamber collapsed, forcing their eyes closed. 

Thanks to [Aetheric Eye], Rydr could still "see" the world around him lit up with Aether. As long as the thing had substance to it, the Titan's newly evolved ability could see it.

So the giant was able to watch every moment of their deaths closing in on them.

As the two divers struggled with the plant's core, which fought back with its vines, trying to drag itself back underground, Rydr heart nearly stopped in his chest. He would have missed it if it weren't for [Aetheric Eye], but the ability revealed it clear as day.

The vines were tearing. 

Sh*t! Rydr cursed in his head, unable to spare the breath to do it aloud. The elemental is too young for its vines to endure this! 

Blood rushed through Rydr's ears as his heart thundered inside his chest. The Titan desperately cast about in his mind, hoping to stumble on a solution. 

Nothing came to mind, but inspiration struck like lightning. As Rydr considered his experiences since he logged back in, he found an idea instead of a clear solution. 

Before his very eyes, the giant watched his life force get sucked up by the elemental, directly converting his blood to Aether. However, the amount of Aether in the plant remained the same. As quickly as the Aether poured in, the elemental put it to use just as fast to increase the speed of its growth. 

It's still a plant. To level up, it has to grow literally. Rydr quickly assembled the random bits of information while he recalled Lynn's lesson from earlier.

The junction of matter and mana...or life and mana! How could an [Aether Smith] accomplish their fantastic feats with mana and matter? Because the profession doesn't treat them as different things! They're just different frequencies for the same energy- Aether! It's just that the amount of Aether in something can't increase until it improves in quality or levels up!

Rydr realized that he and Lynn were totally wrong. Lynn assumed that Aether was this nebulous, fourth energy source that just happened to be in everything. Rydr believed it was just a representation of an object's internal stress planes. 

Neither was correct. And if that's really the case, I should be able to do this!

The Titan leaned back against the vines and pulled while his mind delved into his body, deep into the well of his own Aether. At the same time, Rydr split his concentration to focus on his well of mana. 

Where Aether spread evenly through his body, moving at a pace similar to the Titan's heartbeat, mana nestled behind his navel. The well of mana was wild in comparison to the Aether, volatile and fast. 

As Rydr kept a "finger" to his Aether's pulse, the giant focused on his mana pool. Instead of drawing out the chaotic energy, Rydr slowed it down. The slower the mana within him spun, the easier it was to sync the two energies. 

Within Rydr's mental "view," he watched as the blue mana stilled until it matched the sedate pace of its twin energy. Its blue tone morphed until it matched the deep red of the Titan's Aether. When the two energies synced, a chime went off in Rydr's head, but he ignored it to maintain his focus.