Affinity: Chaos



Two months went by in a flash. 

Grey and his group had explored a good part of the Chaos Battlefield. He had gotten to the Seventh stage of the Elemental Venerable Plane already. 

Since coming here, he had spent around six to seven months or so, and had broken through two stages. One of the stages was a major stage, going from the Mid stages to the Late stages. On some occasions, some people get stuck in the bottleneck for some months, some even get stuck for a year or more. 

Grey on the other hand, was the one holding himself back from breaking through. With the treasures and essence he had consumed since he entered this place, he should've gotten to the Eighth or even Ninth stage given his usual cultivation speed, but he refused to do that and kept consolidating his realm. 

His cultivation stage has never had any influence with his strength. From the start of his cultivation journey, he had almost always been stronger than his cultivation stage. At the moment, he has no issues with fighting against those in the Ninth stage of the Elemental Venerable Plane. The only people he was still wary of were those at the Peak. 

The Peak of the Elemental Venerable Plane was quite different from the Peak of the Planes lower than it. While Grey was still in the Seventh stage of the Sage Plane, even without the help of the Fusion State, he could still compete with certain people that were at the Peak of the Sage Plane, but in the Elemental Venerable Plane, it was not the same. 

A Peak Elemental Venerable could easily decimate a large group of Late stage Elemental Venerables. They wouldn't have any issues with fighting against ten, twenty even. And for those with far superior abilities, they could fight against fifty. 

When Grey was still at the Origin Plane, there was something he learned about Overlord Plane Elementalists, the ability to control the elements of those weaker than them. However, this only implies to those far weaker than they are. Once an Elementalists gets to the Peak of the Elemental Venerable Plane, this ability is heightened to a frightening degree. The control one has over the elements depends on their elements. 

On some occasions, there are a few who can even manipulate the essence in the body of those weaker than they are. Even if said person doesn't use the same element as the Elementalist at the Peak of the Elemental Venerable Plane, it doesn't matter, they can manipulate the essence and make it extremely difficult for them to use their elements properly. 

Without their elements, an Elementalist is nothing but a sitting duck when faced with an opponent on the stage, much less one that is stronger than they are. 

Grey had always been very confident in his abilities, but he knew that before he could attempt to fight a Peak Elemental Venerable, he had to wait till he got to at least the Eighth stage or Ninth stage for a better chance of winning. 

Void and the bunny leader had grown as well, both getting to the Eighth stage. Grey stopped Void from advancing too quickly, so he could also get used to his new strength, consolidating it as well. 

Cori was the only one who was still at the Peak of the Sage Plane; she hadn't been able to break through to the Elemental Venerable Plane. Grey didn't know if he should be happy or worried that she was stuck at a bottleneck. 

She was still very young and Grey knew there was a lot she wouldn't be able to understand about the space element at the moment. Thanks to his battle with the Space Elementalist two months ago, he had gotten a clearer understanding of the space element. He had trained with Void and was trying to see if he could also cause spatial tears in the air. 

This form of attack was even more deadly than Void's spatial distortions. Void was well aware of this and was also putting in the work to learn it. I think you should take a look at

The bunny leader… well, he wasn't all that interested in fighting and preferred to play with Cori while the duo trained on it. Even after two months, they hadn't been able to crack it. 

Other than getting better control over the space element, and being able to create a stronger form of distortions, they had been unable to learn anything else. 

There was something else Grey was very curious about as well, space blocking. When fighting with the Space Elementalist, he was blocked a couple of times. At first, it was with the aid of an array, but after breaking the array, the Space Elementalist still blocked him as well, even attacking him while he was in the void. 

His plan was to learn this and get an edge over other Space Elementalists as well. This would be something he could use to stop enemies from escaping, or like the Space Elementalist, use it to buy time for his companions. 

He had been practicing with Void as well, but just like the spatial tear, he hadn't been able to get anything from it. 

….

"This thing is harder than I thought." Void complained. 

"He spent hundreds of years learning or maybe even creating the technique. It's just a shame I was unable to get my hands on it." Grey replied. He didn't show too much frustration, he knew they wouldn't be able to get it in a blink. 

Void looked at him, "You were the one who killed him so suddenly. If you had offered for him to teach you and then you spare him, he might've obliged." 

"It has already passed, there's no use regretting it now." Grey shrugged. 

"We should go back to Cori." He looked at the City that was far away. 

They made a stop at a City after months of traveling. 

"Alright." Void nodded, he looked in the direction of the City curiously and said, "I wonder what's happening there." 

They had been training for almost a week now and hadn't returned.