The Messenger of Death

['I'm going to fart, just like the first time.'] He thought.

He made sure that he was in control this time. Alex didn't want to do anything embarrassing in front of Nana.

-Burp!!

Alex burped and the explosive energy of the petal in him calmed down. Alex felt a rush of energy course through his veins and bones, making every fiber in his body stronger than they were before.

-Popp!!

He heard popping sounds coming within his body. It was the sound of the barriers between ranks being destroyed by the energy of the Midas petal that Alex ingested.

Within a few seconds, Alex broke through from the fourth rank of the disaster realm – straight to the second rank of the nirvana realm.

['The strength of a nirvana realm cultivator is completely different from that the rest.'] Alex thought.

['How so?'] Al questioned. He was the only one that didn't have the chance to check out his ability after he made a breakthrough in the fire bloodline purification.

['When we broke through other realms there was always quantitative change in our strength, but this time it wasn't only that, there was also a qualitative change.'] Alex explained it how he could.

As he was breaking through, Nana was inspecting and watching over him. She still found it hard to believe that something with that kind of energy could be ingested safely.

'This boy is too abnormal. I like it.' She thought.

"How do you feel?" She asked.

"Like I just crossed a very big river. The nirvana realm is completely different from the rest below it."

"True, from now on, every major breakthrough you make will feel like that."

['Now that we are in the nirvana realm, Milo doesn't have much use, does he?'] Al reasoned.

['I think so, let me call him out.'] Alex thought.

'Milo?'

With that, Milo dripped out of Alex's hand and took its default shape. Nana wondered why Alex brought Milo out but after she noticed the changes on it she was surprised.

Milo is a whole above Alex.

"Did you know that it could do this?" She asked.

"Do what?" Alex didn't know that Milo's cultivation was higher than his, to him, Milo was still as mysterious as the first time that he met it.

"Milo's cultivation is at the second rank of the earth realm, a whole cultivation realm above yours." Nana pointed out.

"Woah, I didn't know that it could do that." Alex turned and faced Milo. "You are more amazing than I thought."

Hearing Alex praising it, Milo transformed into a small cat that had the same features as a Persian cat. Milo went closer to Alex and jumped on his shoulders so that it could rub its soft fur on his face.

Nana watched this happen and she started feeling jealous. "Why the hell am I feeling jealous?" She whispered to herself.

Alex liked what Milo was doing, it brought some warmth to his heart. He used his left hand to rub Milo's head.

"That's enough, let's get down to business." Nana snapped at him.

As Alex was starting to get used to her irrational tendencies, his expression didn't change when she snapped at him.

"Most of the martial skills in my clan are for cultivators that are users of the water element. Those that have some kind of affinity with ice. My clan, The Claus clan, we are a huge family of people that have a long line of cultivators that have been blessed by an ice phoenix." She started.

"An ice phoenix? You are also a bloodline bearer?" Alex asked.

['Just like there are other dragons that use an element different from fire, the same applies to other beasts. If she is a bloodline bearer, a class-1 bloodline bearer for that matter, then I would be able to understand why her ice is strong and formidable.'] Al reasoned.

"No,"

"Huh?" He exclaimed, so did Al.

"Being blessed by a primordial beast is different from being a bloodline bearer. Blessed people only gain one thing from the beast that has blessed them, a higher affinity with the element that the beast uses. People in my clan have a very high affinity with the water element.

So high that we don't conjure water most of the time, just ice."

"What is the difference between the blessed ones and the bloodline bearers?" Alex wondered.

"Bloodline bearers don't only have an affinity with that element, they are gifted with the characteristics of that beast too, and many more. You should know, there are kids in this academy with high affinity with the fire element, despite that, your flames are still going to overpower theirs." She explained.

Alex nodded his head, signifying that he understood what she was saying.

"Wait, most of the martial skills that your clan possess are for people that have an affinity with the water element, I don't have an affinity with that element. What is the point of teaching me something that I won't be able to use?" He squeezed his face when he couldn't comprehend why she wanted to teach him that.

"Shut up." She frowned.

Alex quickly sat up and said; "Yes ma'am."

"Don't interrupt me again," Nana mentioned gently.

With her attitude and mood swinging from left to right or just randomly, Alex made mental note not to interrupt her again.

"Now where was I?" Nana placed her hand under her chin while she attempted to recall what she was saying. "Oh yes, that's right the martial skill. Although you don't have an affinity with the ice element, it still doesn't mean that you can't use the ice element – watch this…"

Nana raised her right hand and put her middle finger on top of her thumb. She snapped her hand and her fingers caused a spark which in turn lead to the materialization of fire, above her hand.

Alex's mouth gaped open, his eyes were wide open as he stared at what his master just did. She created flames as easily as he too would have done.

He had always thought that people could not use an element they had no affinity with.

"Do you have an affinity with the fire element?" He questioned as his curiosity has started eating at him.

"Nope, not an ounce." She shook her head and dropped her hand, making the fire disappear.

"Then how did you do that?"

"With the power of knowledge," She smiled as she replied.

"Huh?"

"Hahaha, do you know how fire is made? The process of its formation?"

Alex was thrown further down the road of confusion…

"When heated molecules are loosened and moving apart to form a gas. The gas molecules combine with the oxygen around resulting in burning. The heat generated by the reaction is what sustains the fire. In this case, both the fuel and the ignition are created with the help of QI, my QI." She explained.

"This is just one point of looking at it, it is different for cultivators. We don't need to know this, having an affinity is enough for us."

['Science!! I didn't know that they could figure out something like that here. I mean, I know that science exists here but not to this extent; in a place where people rely on runes, cultivation, etc. to make up for the things that science would have been able to accomplish.'] Al thought.

['Is it possible that they possess this knowledge but pay no heed to it because they believe that cultivation can suffice for everything?'] Xander pondered.

"How do you know so much about this?" Alex blurted out.

"There are quite a few surprising books in my clan. When you read them, you would be able to understand some easy and basic things that we cultivators ignore because we have QI.

It is because of these books that we, my clan's people, found thousands of years ago that we are able to topple the balance of power in the celestial plain realm. If other clans can get their hands on them, they too would be able to be as strong as we are."

['I don't need to read those books to know this, the skin crawler is like an encyclopedia when it comes to things like that.'] Alex thought.

"Anyway, since it is possible for me to use fire, it is also possible for you to use ice, and water even. The only downside of this is that the amount of QI that will be expended will be enormous. Are you still up for it?" She smirked at him.

Alex still had traces of surprise on his face, Nana thought that he was amazed by her wisdom.

"Yes, I'm up for it."

"Good, if you had backed out I would have kicked your balls." She uttered this casually but Alex knew that she wasn't kidding. Nana would have done just that.

"Now I need you to find out how ice formulates, if you can do that, I will teach you something else. Another martial skill that you don't need any element to use. Think of it as a bonus." Nana said.

['This should be easy.'] Alex thought and a weird smile slowly crept up his lips.

"Oh really? Surprise me."

"System, Hmm-"

-Ping!

*Awaiting the user's command.

The system responded to Alex's call.