Chapter 744 (Patreon)

Ajax’s decision to take part in politics was quickly embraced by his brother as he profusely thanked Ajax for stepping in and allowing him to join the Collectors and some of their other retainers on their dungeon delve to the second floor. The Collectors had passed the point where the floor posed a real challenge for them but between their boon and a lot of their other retainers still benefiting from it they regularly still ran the floor about as consistently as they had been back when Ajax was delving with them.

Kate, Silvia and Lexi were all a little amused as they watched Ajax take over for Tom but all three of them helped make the transition as smooth as possible. 

Tom also hadn’t pushed for Ajax to take his place in the meeting that was happening on a whim, seeing that Ajax was available he had specifically allowed him to take the meetings with the representatives that were coming for a specific reason. They were all here to talk about the Wild Lands. 

With Gryndor looking to expand, a lot of nobles were looking to make the most of the opportunity but for that they needed information. With the tension of the war that was happening nobody had been sending people into the Wild Lands making Ajax’s expedition the most up to date information on what awaited them as they moved to expand. 

Silvia and Lexi were both there to handle the haggling portion of the meeting but having the Duke himself take part as well as give a first hand account of the information was not only more valuable but it helped build some positive relations with noble houses that had so far only had reasons to be jealous of House Hearthbound and their good fortune. 

A few inquiries were made about also asking Aurexion a few questions but none of the representatives pushed when Ajax told them his bond was busy working on something. The meetings weren’t that long and none of the representatives tried to drag them out, all of them aware of how valuable a Duke’s time was. Come evening Ajax joined Aurexion in the vault and he was ready to work on his Mythic Skill. 

“What are you going to try now?” Aurexion asked once Ajax joined him in the vault for training away from anyone that might be trying to watch. “Wind, Water? Maybe something a little more physical like Earth?” 

“Earth wouldn’t be a bad choice since I did want something a bit more solid than fire but I decided to go with Metal.” Ajax answered. “I want to see if using an Epic Mana type makes any difference.” 

“Metal?” Aurexion was a little surprised to see what Ajax was going for but after a moment to think on it he nodded. “That would work just as well as Earth and the same advice I was going to offer you for that will apply here just the same. When you activate [Elemental Avatar] try to target a specific metal. Unlike Fire or Water there are many different types of metal and I have seen all sorts of metal elementals and depending on the metal they are made from they have strengths and weaknesses.” 

Ajax hadn’t accounted for that, he had initially thought that his form would have a default alloy and that he would be able to change it once it was activated but according to his Fire transformation an elemental couldn’t just change their body on a whim so Aurexion advice was more likely to be correct that his own assumption. 

“I’ll start with steel.” Ajax said, he was very familiar with the composition of the metal and he had used it a number of times before. He knew it had its own weaknesses, most obvious being extreme heat but he wasn’t going into combat with it now. 

Activating [Elemental Avatar] the change was just as smooth as it had been for his Fire form, one moment he was flesh and blood and the next he was made out of steel, Mana dense steel. Like the previous transformation Ajax’s clothes and anything else he was wearing were absorbed and he stood there as a blank humanoid elemental made of steel. 

 Just like the Fire elemental form Ajax lost access to his sight, unlike his Fire form however Ajax could still hear and his sense of touch was still there. Instead of only hearing with his ears however it was like he was hearing with his entire body, the sensation was overwhelming so much so that Ajax felt the world start spinning as he tried to make sense of the information he was getting. The only reason he was still standing was that his body had yet to move in any way shape or form since he activated the Skill. 

Ten seconds, that’s how long it took for Ajax not to get a handle on the information he was getting but to experience it and make an informed decision that he wasn’t going to be able to get a proper handle on it in a short time so he used [Empowering Restriction] to give it up, unsurprisingly he lost his sense of touch at the same time, seeing as he was made of steel his hearing was just him physically feeling the vibrations that made up sounds.

With that under control Ajax didn’t want to keep the form active for too much longer so he went to move only to find his body was barely moving. That was an issue just as big as getting used to his new sense, if his body could barely move this form wouldn’t be all that powerful. He had seen earth elementals move before and while he wasn’t sure what type of metal elemental he was he pushed some Mana to see if that would do the trick.

Much to his surprise Mana wasn’t the answer. Much like the Fire elemental form Mana had allowed him to conjure more metal, a solid spike extending from his arm in the direction he was already slowly moving the appendage, the added weight starting to have an effect on his center of mass and Ajax could feel himself starting to tip over.

If Mana wasn't going to do it Ajax was going to try Stamina next and this proved to be the right answer. From the beginning Ajax had kept a very strong grip on both his Mana and Stamina, Aurexion had warned him enough times about how dangerous Mythic Skills could be and the last thing he wanted was to Kill himself by having his new elemental form instantly drain his Mana or Stamina so he had been keeping a tight grip on both from the start. As stamina started to trickle more freely Ajax found he could move normally, not to the level of his regular combat speed but like a normal person and even that was costing him about one to two Stamina a second, regaining his balance and stopping his fall was easy once his body cooperating once more.

‘No wonder earth and metal elementals are usually so unmoving until they decide to attack’ Ajax thought ‘every little movement was a much bigger draw on Stamina compared to a humanoid’s.’

As he was moving around the room Ajax lost track of where exactly he was as he was more focused on his movements. His [Sense Mana] Skill let him easily keep track of Aurexion’s presence and orient himself according to that but Ajax just didn’t see the walls of the vault. More than that because of [Empowering Restriction] shutting off his sense of touch Ajax didn’t notice he had hit the wall until his arm suddenly stopped and trying to move it was taking a lot more effort and Stamina.

It was at that point that Aurexion’s tail moved around him and already more than a minute had to have passed and Ajax didn’t want to push this any longer so he dropped the Skill returning to his human form only to find his arm hadn’t just hit the wall of the vault but that he had actively carved through it leaving a clear handprint where he first made contact.

“There’s clearly some work that needs to be done but I can see the potential.” Aurexion said, his interest however wasn’t on the handprint Ajax’s blind movement had caused on the wall but rather on the shallow footprints the dragon could barely notice on the floor of the vault. Ajax’s steel body had been heavy enough to actually deform the floor just from him walking, his heels making a clear indentation before the weight was spread out across the entire sole of his foot.

“More than a little work.” Ajax agreed. “Should probably start with Earth, I don’t think the Vibrations will cause as much of an issue with rock as they do with Metal. It’s certainly not as intuitive as Fire was.” 

At the same time Ajax couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like to be a liquid if he was to use Water or a gas if he was to use Wind. It took an effort of will not use either of those right then but he had time and the training for today was done.