"In desperation, Lord Seth commanded Saint Ren and I to flee while he covered our retreat. We fled and fled and ran, not turning back, not checking if anyone or any *thing* were following us."

"To our shock, we reached the Fetch homestead on that same day. We were so close... So, so close to returning..." He smiled and shook his head.

"Since then, things have never been the same. We've lost touch with the outside world. Our numbers fall month after month. Food is sufficient, but under constant threat of raids and the Darkness, morale is low."

"...We never managed to recover their bodies... Could not bury or even mourn the Captain or Lord Seth..."

"Over time, we encountered more of the Darkness - the crawlers, eyeless creatures that only Divine Light at the level of a Saint can drive away. Anything they touch or wound became... Tainted..."

"We did capture several Tainted ones, albeit at great cost... Alas... Nothing worked. Nothing could restore them to normal..." Gatyon spoke quietly, then grew silent, before laying his eyes on Lars, giving him a gaze filled with trust, hope and belief. Lars felt a strange feeling in his heart as he saw the man's gaze and at the weighty expectations the people of the homestead placed on him.

"Until you came. You... You're the only one who encountered the Darkness, who was even bitten by a dark creature but was not Tainted. I don't know if you have the power, but... If Lady Zera and Elder Mash'noth are willing to take the chance, then I..."

"I will believe."

"I, Gatyon Kupra, will believe in you, Lars."

The eyes of the two met, one a hulking giant of a man and the slim, handsome blonde boy, and Lars nodded - a sign of his receiving these hopes of a failing and hopeless people.

Then, realising that he had carried on for long enough, Gatyon sighed and chuckled - sounding half jovial and half in self-pity.

"Well, boy, hope you'll forgive me the sentimental moment. Hahahaha!" He laughed loudly, more to break the awkwardness than from actual humour.

"Let's get to Earth Pulse. From what we can see, you're as weak as a chicken and as untrained as a suckling child! I don't understand how you could even have survived the journey through the woods to our lands!" Gatyon shook his head and tut-tutted teasingly.

"So, we'll start with the basics of Earth Pulse - the ritual of initiation, Praise to the Land! Watch closely, you'll need to memorise these movements to connect to the Land and feel her heartbeat..."

The large man then began to move in a ritualistic dance, moving slowly and fluidly in a clear rhythm. His hand movements were graceful and his steps light, belying his size and girth. Gatyon pivoted, turned, feet stepping in and crossing one another, actions flowing in cadence with an invisible beat.

Lars was entranced, but at the same time surprised.

'These movements... If I'm not mistaken...'

Lars watched closer for a moment, before he made his conclusion about the so-called Praise to the Land.

'It's also a formation... It looks quite simple so far, but definitely more complex than a beginner's formation should be...'

Lars smiled as he continued to study the dance, memorising and burning the patterns drawn into his memory.

'It seems that the formation is complex, but by performing it as a dance, the burden of precision, memory and skill in formations is circ.u.mvented entirely... This... This is ingenious!'

Lars' eyes shone as he found himself in awe of the creator of this simple formation, this dance. The more he learned in this world, the more impressed he was, whether with the power of Divine Light, Darkness or now, Earth Pulse.

'The large movements of the dancer allow the strokes to be large, thereby increasing the margin of error...! This means that Earth Pulse can be learned even by those who lack the mental strength to make chants, draw formations and weave runes! Brilliant! Exceptional!'

Lars then realised how this could apply to magical spells as well, and an enigmatic smile crept across his face as he imagined how he could use this to cast world-shattering spells!

His attention on the dance did not waver one bit as Gatyon's ceremonial routine began to pick up pace.

Gatyon's dance grew faster, and Lars' heart began to beat faster as well. He could almost hear the sound of an invisible, unheard beat of an orchestra of war-drums booming thunderously as the man's feet continued drawing a simple yet beautiful pattern around the training hall.

And then he stopped, standing straight, placing his hands on his hips and bowing at the waist - the same cultural bow that Lars had seen the people use as a show of greetings.

The moment Gatyon's bowed head reached the lowest point, he stopped - and Lars felt the atmosphere change.

There was *vitality* in the air - so thick that he could *taste* it.

"Earth Pulse..." Lars closed his eyes and felt the particles of energy in the atmosphere, absorbing the vitality from the air around him. He focused and found that even with his immense mental strength and soul-power of the Mythical realm, the particles were fleeing away from him. It was like trying to cup water with one's hands - no matter how hard one tried, the water would still seep through the gaps in their fingers.

Then, Lars realised that he had it all wrong. The idea flashed through his mind and struck him like a gong ringing in his head, causing him to chuckle and shake his head, wondering how he could have missed this.

'The dance isn't just to draw in Earth Pulse from the atmosphere...'

'It's to trigger the formation on the pract.i.tioner themselves and... That's it!'

'All I have to do is...'

* * * * *

Just then, Gatyon breathed in deeply and raised his head to see Lars with his eyes closed. Gatyon smiled and spoke, saying, "Lars my boy! It looks like you can feel the Earth Pulse, the life of Nature in the air!"

But then, he frowned. "Hey, boy, that's not how you do it. You can't just absorb it directly. The pet.i.tioner connects with the Land only through devotion and surrender, as practised through Praise to the Land. No matter how you try, your body and heart won't be able to accommodate Earth Pulse, not without the ritual of honour!"

He walked over to Lars side, bending his neck to look at the boy's face and frowned, then smiled again.

"Heh, I don't blame you! You're indeed talented to be able to sense it already! But if you want to cultivate Earth Pulse, that won't do..."

Seeing that Lars had not heard him, Gatyon's brows furrowed and he reached out to shake Lars.

"Boy! Hey, come on, snap out of it. Don't waste any more time, you need to--"

But before he could lay a hand on Lars, Gatyon was shocked and silenced, nearly knocked off his feet at the unbelievable phenomena unfolding before him. 

An insane explosion of Earth Pulse swirled all around them, sweeping him backwards in his unprepared state - and the heartbeat of the land madly surged into the golden-haired Lars' body!

"What in the world!!? Im-impossible!! Madman, lunatic! It's impossible to cultivate without the ritual, how can you possibly--Ahhh!"

Gatyon couldn't keep speaking as the turbulent energies around him forced him to fully circulate his strength, igniting all nine Life Foci - nodes of vitality - in his body to keep his footing.

However, he found that he was slipping. The smooth stone floor was not giving him enough grip to stay up, and he hurriedly pressed his body down against the floor to prevent himself being blown away.

As he watched in shock, the entire training hall began to shake under the swirling winds of Earth Pulse, causing dust and fragments of wood to fall from the aged ceiling.

And then, the shaking and the wind suddenly stopped - and all was silent again.

"Cough, cough cough! Dammit! Lars boy, are you alright! You'd better not be hurt, or I'll--" Gatyon tried to wave away the dust and hurried over to the Lars - who was still standing, perfectly alright and now looking at him curiously and smiling.

"Gatyon...? What happened to you? Why are you covered in dust...? Did something happen...?"

Gatyon nearly fell to the floor in exasperation, realising that he was worried for nothing.

Shaking the dust off his body, he reached Lars side and asked, "Boy, what happened? How did you do that? I could have sworn a minute ago that you've never cultivated Earth Pulse before! How did you trigger such an intense Earth Pulse phenomenon?!? "

It was only then that Gatyon realised something else.

The Earth Pulse had not stopped nor dissipated.

It had been absorbed into Lars body... And was so thick, so rich in quality that it could be seen with the naked eye!

Gatyon felt like fainting as he exclaimed, "How did you skip the Initiate and Pract.i.tioner stages entirely!?! Impossible! That--that..."

"That should take a decade!"

Lars smiling expression froze - stunned when he realised what he had done...

'I think I might have just broken the system of this world...'