The Unlimited Ascension: Reborn as an Extra

The sun climbed higher in the morning sky. The warm rays of sunlight illuminated the world just outside the bustling city of Lamiar.

In the open expanse, a silver-haired boy stood in the clearing with his eyes gently closed. He maintained a casual, relaxed stance, concentrating the mana deep inside his body. He actively absorbed the surrounding atmospheric mana, channeling it equally into every part of his body as he forced the dense energy outside through the palms of his hands.

As the mana gathered into his hands in its raw, pure form, he tried to control its density to an absolute minimum so that no excess energy would be lost to the wind.

Alen forced his elements to move along with the flow of the mana, attempting to use Wind and Water together at the exact same time. As the raw mana started to convert into the elemental forms, the wind and water, two highly contrasting elements, started to become violent and chaotic. They refused to align with each other, and the form he tried to maintain burst outward in a sudden shockwave.

Alen finally opened his eyes, and a disappointed look settled on his face.

”Sigh... It is now the 96th time today that I have failed. It looks almost impossible, like I am just wasting my time...”

So, what did he fail at? What was he trying to achieve by using the two elements at the same time?

It was simple in theory: he was trying to fuse the two different elements together. That was actually a brand new concept to him. He didn’t even know if it was realistically possible, or if any other Awakeners could use it, or if anyone had even ever tried it before.

The idea had been lingering in his mind for a long time since he first arrived inside this world. Could two different elements be fused together as a single entity? Wouldn’t the two different characteristics be perfectly present in the new element formed? Wouldn’t the resulting element be in a far more powerful state than before?

Wouldn’t the overall power of the spell become double if he was able to do that? Was it really doable?

He had already wasted two full days trying to figure out the exact same thing again and again, but the result was exactly as he had expected. He failed, time and time again.

Now that he had failed that many times, he started to genuinely doubt if something like that could even be possible in reality.

He remembered that once, during a trial, he had actually tried it. But that was only in a raw form. He didn’t actually fuse them together as one stable element; he had just forcibly imbued both of the elements into an attack. The result was a chaotic state of elements which created a massive burst of unstable energy—meaning raw power.

But that chaotic explosion was not what he wanted to achieve. He wanted both the elements to fuse together with each other in perfect harmony. He wanted a spell that didn’t create a random shockwave, but remained in a pure, stable form without creating chaos or a sudden burst of energy, exactly how the original elements acted. In simple terms, he wanted to create an entirely new element by combining the two different element. He was trying to merge the two different states of nature to form into one.

But that was not easy work. As the different elements possessed vastly different properties, it was near impossible for them to merge with each other. Even a simple collision of the elements created a violent shockwave because they could not maintain their natural harmony with each other. True fusion remained a distant, fleeting dream.

Alen sat down onto the ground, folding his arms across his chest as he sank deep into thought.

’Where did I go wrong? Did I apply the elements in unequal amounts? Or do I have to use the elements according to their density and base form?... Or do I first have to actively change their forms to something which looks more alike to each other?...’

”Sigh...”

He slumped further onto the ground in defeat. He had already used all the other known methods over the past two days, but all of them had failed miserably. Yes, he had been able to collide the elements while using one spell with two different elements, but he didn’t feel satisfied by that achievement. He wanted to do something which was truly unique and had not been done by anyone else. That would feel more like a real success to him than any other thing.

He looked up at the vast blue sky, watching the passing clouds hide the bright sun behind them. A fresh breeze of air blew through his silver hair, exposing his forehead, which only made him look even more handsome in the light.

Just as his thoughts began to deepen about where he was going wrong, a head suddenly came into his view. A girl with raven-black hair and sparkling violet eyes stood right above his head, looking down at him.

”What are you doing?...”

Alen pursed his lips. He sat up straight on the ground, looked at her in exasperation, and questioned her.

”I told you to go on your own way from now on. Why are you still following me around like a lost tail?...”

Lyris didn’t feel offended by his sharp words. She stood there calmly, holding a wrapped box of food she had made herself in her delicate hands.

”Are you going to speak, or do you plan to remain mute all day long? Sigh...”

Lyris finally opened her mouth and spoke firmly while offering the wrapped lunch box forward.

”Here, taste this. You haven’t eaten a single thing since yesterday’s dinner...”

Alen pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at the lunch box. He looked at her closely, trying to gauge any hidden intentions she might have for giving him the food.

”Where did you get this food from?...”

Lyris replied calmly, extending her hands more to offer it to him.

”I made it myself, after using the small kitchen inside the hotel room. You said you didn’t like to eat the food from outside. So I thought I should make something myself for you...”

Alen looked at her with entirely blank eyes. He wasn’t able to speak a single word.

’Why?... Why is she behaving like that? What would she even gain by doing that for me? Is she trying to act kindly toward me so that I will become comfortable with her, and then she can use me? Is she planning some grand scheme behind my back?...’

He shook off the chaotic, nonessential thoughts and finally took the warm box from her hands. In truth, he was feeling quite hungry, but since he had been so busy in his training, he had decided to postpone eating lunch. Since he was a ’Walker’ with a ’Star’ now, he could stay alive for a whole month even without eating food or drinking water. All of the necessary nutrition and energy for his body could be solely provided by drawing in atmospheric mana.

Even then, he just couldn’t reject her kindness after she had made a lunch for him with her own hard work. If he did that, it would truly be a rude and ungentlemanly act.

”Okay, I’ll eat it...”

Lyris’s face lit up brightly as he finally took the box into his hands. She looked at him hopefully wanting to know if he would like the lunch made by her or not. It was her very first time making food. She had never learned how to cook in her entire life, as there was never any need to. But after watching him eat everything else with a face filled with pure disgust, she felt like she should at least try to help him.

Alen finally opened the lid of the lunch box and looked inside. His face turned completely blank, and a cold shiver ran down his spine.

Inside the box, there was a frightening mix of severely burnt meat and some heavily overcooked vegetables, along with some small side dishes which he wasn’t even able to identify by sight.

’Is this food even edible?’

His eyes flicked up toward her, desparately wanting to ask what this disgusting-looking thing was. But as he noticed the bright, hopeful expression shining on her face, he simply pursed his lips.

’Damn, what should I do? I can’t just break her heart by refusing to eat the food now... Sigh...’

With a heavy heart, Alen picked up the spoon. He scooped up a small bite of the food and ate it while forcing a strained smile onto his face.

But as he chewed the food, instead of feeling disgust, he felt a strange, comforting warmth spread smoothly through his chest.

’It.... It is actually good!’

He picked up another large bite of the food and started to eat it with genuine enthusiasm. It was his first time since coming to this world that he had eaten something which he actually liked. The food was giving him the rare, comforting feeling of home. He suddenly remembered the warm lunches made by his mother’s hands when he was in his childhood. He couldn’t help but feel incredibly nostalgic at the thought.

Lyris looked at him eating the food quickly, like he had been starving for a years. She felt genuinely surprised that he actually liked the food made by her. She had able to made it after many trials and even that was also burnt, as she had zero experience with it, but seeing him thoroughly enjoying the food made her feel happy.

”The lunch was good. Thank you so much for making food for me, but there is... no need to do that for me in the future.”

The slight pause in his sentence was immediately noticed by her. She nodded while giving him a small, warm smile, but her stubborn expression didn’t look like she was actually going to listen to him.

As the afternoon sun reached the very top of the sky and the strong, hot rays of sunlight fell on their figures, Alen finally stood up. He dusted the dirt off his clothes and looked at her seriously.

”Let’s go... We have to discuss something important...”

Without waiting to see if she agreed or not, Alen walked right past her toward the large shade of a nearby tree. The thick canopy of the branches prevented any sunrays from falling down, so the ground beneath it remained cool and comfortable, the perfect place for a serious talk.