Water.
The birthplace of life.
It was also the birthplace of many species one wouldn't see or hear about.
For instance, Blue Whipper: A jellyfish-like creature but with only one tentacle.
Its tentacle was made of a special fiber that was extremely conducive to the flow of water mana.
Blue Whipper's attack was actually magnified due to this special biological structure.
How much?
Whoosh!
Standing on the banks of a pond, Varian saw a thin, long, green tentacle rush at him to rip him apart.
Midway, the green tentacle suddenly turned blue as it exuded an icy breath and its tip grew a very thin, but very sharp ice crystal.
Kaaa!
The sound of wind being cut sounded as the whip finally reached Varian's bare arm.
Sarah looked at him from the side while keeping an eye on the nearby creatures.
Kacha!
The sound of a glass breaking caused Sarah to flinch and squint her eyes at Varian.
"You…"
The ice crystal—the culmination of every bit of Blue Whipper's power was shattered into pieces.
Varian's arm on the other hand didn't even have a single scratch. He glanced at the Blue Whipper in disinterest and pointed a finger at it.
Kree!
With the sounds of two soft but firm membranes rubbing against each other, the blue whipper was crushed into pieces.
Its blue blood splashed high into the air before it turned into green gas. As the gas spread, the small plants, fishes, and animals that inhaled it directly died.
'Nasty Fish.' Varian shook his head and checked his status panel.
The System showed a thumbs down emote and added. 'Work Harder.'
"How is it?" Sarah approached him and looked at him with a bit of eagerness and expectation.
This whole 'awakening' in a new path was truly bizarre to her. But since she decided to believe him, she didn't doubt him again.
"Should try harder," Varian said and sighed.
Whatever the case might be, that Blue Whipper was only level 1. His physical defense was too high for the water mana to even enter his body.
"Um," Sarah hesitated for a moment and asked. "Why don't I do it?"
This was something that always puzzled her. If any water awakener could do it, then why not her? A peak level 6 Water Awakener?
"I don't want to g gain 'resistance' against you," Varian stated.
"Resistance?" Sarah raised a brow.
"Think of it like this, the more I fight with someone, the more adaptive I become to that person's or creature's style. I'm essentially learning that person's aura usage, but most of it happens unconsciously. So, slowly but surely I become 'aware' of how to use my mana, chi, etc.
But the problem is if I use any once distinctive creature or person as the main source, there's a high chance I'll run into bottlenecks that are hard to solve. And the progress I get from fighting that person would also decrease over time.
To progress quickly, I need more diversity." He explained patiently.
This was the only time ever that Varian said this out to anyone. Even Boo got a short answer.
Sarah listened to his words and sighed in shock once again. "This is just…let's go."
She pulled his hand and with a snap, they were deep inside a lake.
Varian also noticed that an invisible sphere seemed to be covering them. There was not a drop of water in a five-meter radius.
He turned to Sarah and she simply smiled. "You can swim without getting wet. Cool, right?"
"Hm…" Varian didn't know how to swim, so he stiffly nodded and kicked the underwater ground.
Boom!
Pillars of water shot up and with the sheer pressure, killed many levels 1 creatures.
In the blink of an eye, Varian crossed hundreds of meters despite being in the water and reached an Octopus-like creature.
Its tentacles instinctively made a strange gesture and Varian suddenly felt the water he was in contact with stiffening.
Then this controlled water attempted to break into his body through his eyes, nose, and ears.
Varian looked at the octopus in shock.
Even though it was only a peak level 2, he felt that this method would kill any non-water path level 3 creatures if they were in his position.
'Elemental Awakeners' combat strength depends on their environment.'
He recalled an old point he studied somewhere and sighed in amazement.
Shaaa!
The water got in through his nose as Varian blocked off the rest by forming an invisible shield with his telekinetic power.
Kaa!
This special water, once inside, immediately tried to destroy his heart and lungs.
Varian coughed out violently and the nearby water turned red. But only after a few seconds, he stopped coughing and looked fine. It was as if the injury never happened.
The water couldn't break his heart or lung defenses. But it did damage them lightly. But that was it.
The water mana in that controlled water was quickly confronted by his own aura derivatives and was quickly devoured.
[Water Path Level 0: (10/30)]
The system prompt lit up Varian's eyes and he looked at the octopus-like creature with gleaming eyes.
The octopus-like creature stiffened and wanted to run away.
"You!"
It stiffened and even with its limited intelligence, understood that running away now would be seen as an offense.
"One more time."
Varian stretched his arms and welcomed an attack.
"…" The octopus-like creature wasn't sure if what it felt was right. But it seemed like this two-legged creature was asking for more…attacks?
It didn't want to die, so it didn't risk.
"DO IT!"
His shout scared the hell out of the creature and nodded, responding in a weird noise.
"Fsrafd!"
Then two more attacks followed.
"Cough."
"Cough."
With two blood coughings, Varian was happy.
[Water Path Level 1: 0/100]
Varian felt the new mana in his body and smiled. The water that seemed like an outside thing till then suddenly felt like a natural home.
Varian lightly tapped at his right and a water sphere slowly twisted into various shapes before turning into ice.
"Nice." He nodded in satisfaction and turned to the octopus-like creature that was about to slip away.
He uttered the same dreadful words.
"One more time."