The Gate Traveler-Chapter 458 B7— 38: Elemental Command

After my progress with Fire, I went back to the ice issue. With all this snow around, it was a golden opportunity I couldn't pass up. I tried to flow mana through the ice element channels. Again, there was strong resistance, as if nothing had changed. Fire still didn't want anything to do with this icy stuff.

I took a big batch of snow, packed it into an ice ball, and created an ice butterfly like I did in Zindor a while back. Everything worked as it should. I still couldn't make it flap its wings or anything, but I could reshape the ice.

Tried to connect to the snow again.

Nothing. A big, fat zilch.

It didn't make any damn sense!

Again, I squeezed some snow into an ice ball and created a bird, but this time, I split my mind and watched my mana channels.

Huh? That was unexpected.

When I reshaped the ice, both channels engaged. The Fire affinity softened the ice, allowing the water affinity to reshape it.

Hmm, so it's not a temperature issue?

Why? What was the difference?

I sat there scratching my head in bewilderment, trying to understand what the hell was going on. It's not like snow and ice were different. So why was the effect different?

Another experiment: I flowed mana down my Fire channels and released it through my hand into the snow like the Heat spell, but with free mana manipulation. The Fire part of me leaped to take part in that endeavor.

So, melting the cold stuff—yes, please. Moving or doing something else with it—hell no.

Why?

Tried to reshape the snow like I did with the ice balls, but there was resistance again.

I took a handful of snow, didn't pack it this time, enveloped it with my mana sense, and released my mana into it. It scattered the moment it entered, breaking into a thousand tiny trails. Between each flake, a tiny pocket of air split the current.

So I need Air as well?

I added a touch of Air mana just to test it. The snow flew apart and pelted my face.

Grrr!

Packed some snow into ice again and channeled mana down both Fire and Water channels. It flowed and helped me reshape the ice. I frowned, comparing the feel. Ice gave me something firm to push through. Snow broke the stream apart before it could even start. When I sent Fire mana into it, it fizzled, slipping through the empty spaces.

So I tried again, slower this time. A bit of Water first, then Fire. The Water spread easily through the flakes, coating everything in a thin layer, but the Fire refused to follow. It reached the first air pockets and fizzled out.

I switched the order—Fire first, then Water. The snow hissed, half melted, and the flow held a little longer. The Fire finally found traction where the surface had fused. Not much, but enough for the Water to slip in behind it. The resistance eased for a moment, then broke apart again when the flakes separated.

That was when I noticed the pattern. The moment there was structure, something solid, the Fire mana stopped fighting. When there wasn't, it scattered and slipped away. I pressed my hands into the slush and tried one more time, keeping a thin current of Fire running just under control, enough to hold the crystals together but not enough to melt them completely.

The flow steadied. With the Fire channels finally engaged, the resistance eased as the snow compacted into something almost solid.

I got it! Fire needed something to work against, to affect. Snow had none. Well, it did, but it also had empty spaces that needed to be handled first.

I stared at the white mound in front of me, thinking back to the bonfire, to the moment the flames had stopped feeling hostile and became a part of me. Fire wasn't just destruction. It was a representation of energy. Maybe that was the key.

Instead of forcing it, I called the warmth in gently, just a breath of Fire mana through the channels, soft enough not to melt the snow. The heat didn't fight this time. It threaded through, not burning but linking the crystals together, closing the gaps between them.

Then I added Water mana.

The change was instantaneous. The resistance vanished, and the snow shifted under my hands, compacting smoothly, the energy moving through it like it finally remembered what it was supposed to be.

I chuckled. "So that's it. Fire doesn't destroy the cold; it gives it shape."

All this time, I'd treated Fire and Water as opposites when, really, they were partners. Fire brought cohesion. Water brought motion. Without both, the snow stayed fragmented.

I shaped the mass again, channeling a thread of warmth first, then flow. The snow formed clean edges this time, a delicate bird mid-flight, its wings half-curved as if catching an invisible breeze. For a moment, the figure held, glowing faintly from within before collapsing back into powder. I grinned anyway. Progress.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

As a final experiment, I walked and let mana flow through both Fire and Water in a balanced amount, guiding it down the Ice channels, through my legs, into the ground, and out to the snow. The snow became just cohesive enough for me to push it aside, clearing a path.

I fist-pumped. "Yeah! I'm a snowplow."

Sadly, my Ice affinity only advanced from [Novice] to [Junior], with [Master] still a long way off, but I couldn't resent the system for it. Even I had to admit these were only the first steps in understanding and working with this element.

The next day, with a deep sigh, I went back to working with Earth. It wasn't a hardship. I did make progress and fixed a tunnel, but this specific element always felt the most resistant. After every practice session, my body felt heavy and dense, as if the element itself had settled inside me. It wasn't surprising, since earth was heavy and dense, but I preferred the light feeling of Wind, even with the scatterbrain effect it had on me, according to Mahya.

I went down to the bottom layer where the mushrooms grew and the raw soil lay exposed. The air was cool and still, carrying the faint scent of stone and moisture. I lay down and closed my eyes. For a while, I didn't flow mana into it. I just lay there, feeling the ground beneath me—rough in some places, soft in others.

Memories drifted through my mind, one after another. My first attempt had been in Shimoor, long ago, even before I knew I was an elemental Wizard. Back then, I had sent a spike of mana into the ground and examined it like an X-ray, not realizing that it was my first step on a long, remarkable path. Strange that my first real foray into the elements had been Earth, the hardest one for me to master.

I remembered the stone balls I had created on Earth and how I gained the Mana Control ability instead of Mana Manipulation. I thought back to my attempts to use it during the Area 51 invasion, the frustration of trying to force what wouldn't yield, and the moment I gave up and found a workaround. I had even resorted to cheating with my Bard abilities to compensate for the tenuous connection. Now, I could do what I had done then without the two magic circles and without serving as the link. Even without reaching the [Master] tag, I knew I could now do what I had done back then with just a thought and a few units of mana.

My thoughts drifted to Zindor: taking apart castles; speeding up the destruction of a run-down building. Reconstructing the tunnel here in this city. It had been a long road with this element, full of detours and lessons, far more than with the others. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

In that half-meditative state, still floating between memory and presence, my consciousness began to sink. I didn't send mana into the ground. My mana sense spread as it always did, filling the space around me, reaching about twenty meters down. But this time, it felt different. The layers below me seemed to breathe, as if the earth itself acknowledged me. The soil pressed lightly against my awareness.

Maybe my mana sense was the bridge. But it was my awareness, my consciousness, that kept lowering, deeper and deeper into the earth, carried by memories and the small insights gathered from every attempt, every failure, every spark of understanding along the way.

At some point, something changed. It happened so suddenly that it pulled me out of the calm state I had been in, yet the connection held firm. I had "clicked" with the earth element. There was a presence there. Not like a person, not something with thoughts or emotions, but a personality all the same.

It felt vast and ancient, too slow to be measured by time as I understood it. Its awareness was everywhere, patient and unmoving, like the steady weight of mountains that had watched ages pass without caring who walked above them. It didn't speak or react, but its silence carried meaning. It simply was.

The sensation wasn't comforting or threatening. It was both, depending on how I approached it. The moment I let go of expectation, I could sense the quiet pulse beneath everything: the faint hum of life locked in minerals and roots; the soft exhale of buried air pockets; the whisper of worms shifting in their endless paths. It all existed together in one slow, endless rhythm, and for a moment, I was part of it.

My breathing slowed to match that rhythm. My heartbeat steadied. My body felt heavier, but in a good way, as if gravity itself had accepted me. The stillness wrapped around me like a deep, solid warmth, and in that stillness, I finally understood what Earth truly was. Not resistance, not lifeless mass, but the foundation that allowed everything else to exist and tied all the other elements together. They couldn't exist without Earth as their base. No Earth—no fire to burn upon it. No Earth—no wind to blow across its surface. No Earth—no water to seep into or carve through it.

No wonder I had so much trouble with it. It was the beginning, the basis of everything else. Only when I had mastered and understood the others could I fully comprehend the beginning of them all. With that understanding came a strange sensation. I looked into my mana system, and it was lit up like a Christmas tree. Mana flowed through every channel, both main and secondary, even Nature. It shimmered, pulsing and alive, like rivers of light within me. Occasionally, there was pain when something pulled too strongly in one direction, but it subsided quickly, settling into harmony. The balance kept shifting, fine-tuning itself again and again until it felt almost natural.

My whole being clenched and released, and a wave of energy passed through me. I knew the effect well, but it was the first time I had seen it while watching my mana system. The mana from all my orbs surged outward, spreading through my entire body in a radiant wave that seemed to make the air itself tremble. Each cell felt charged, alive, humming with power. That was the clenching sensation—the pressure before release.

Next, the mana flowed back to my orbs, passing through every channel. That was the release sensation. Then the mana rose and created a funnel above my head. I could feel it, solid and real, drawing in the surrounding mana and sending it through my body in a powerful wave. On its way, it enlarged the orbs and channels before flowing out through my feet into the ground. That was the energy sensation passing through my body.

<table border="1" class="chapter-table" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%">

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<td style="width: 99.0615%; text-align: center">Mana: 12,700/15,200</td>

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</tbody>

</table>

My mana rose by 1,200 units.

Mahya is going to be sooooo envious.

But the biggest surprise was the wizard section:

<table border="1" class="chapter-table" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%">

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<td style="width: 99.0615%">

<p style="text-align: center">Sub-Class 2: Wizard Battle Master Level 14

Wizard Abilities:</p>

<p style="text-align: center">Mind Split x6

Mana Sense [Master]

Mana Saturation [Apprentice]

Mana Control [Medior]

Mana Regeneration x 5

Mana Oneness [Junior]

Lightning [Master]

Mist

Nature

Ice [Junior]

Spell Weaver [Novice]

Spell Creation [Medior]

Mana Siphon [Novice]

Second Tier Elemental Command [Novice]</p>

</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

My Mana Sense rose to [Master], my Mana Oneness reached [Junior], and the four main elements disappeared. In their place, I now had Second Tier Elemental Command at [Novice].

That left me with one very important question and no apparent answer: if this was Second Tier Elemental Command, what the hell was First Tier?