Ascension of the elder

Chapter 13: Breakthrough

Heading back to his rooms Kyle new this would be an interesting night and hopefully he will be able to breakthrough.

The reason for Kyle's sudden push to breakthrough was twofold. Firstly that malicious intent when he first entered the dining hall had him worried. If the source of this intent decided to move openly Kyle didn't have any means to resist and even a low level guard could currently kill him. Secondly when he saw Bruno start to breakthrough he realised this was from a backlash of mana not being released and impacting the gate. Using this as a basis Kyle thought he could replicate this consciously due to his ability to control his mana. It was like causing a wave and letting it hit the rocks, breaking them down.

Reaching his rooms Kyle closed the entrance and sealed it using an array his mother had installed in the door. This meant only authorised people could enter, these were his mother, father and Miranda as he removed all other permissions as a precaution. The array used the mana signature of the person trying to access the door as the key. If the mana didn't match the door would remain sealed.

Going into his cultivation room Kyle settled himself and started to prepare to attack the barrier he was barred by. The first thing Kyle did was to send as much of his mana into his nodes lowering the amount of mana he had in his main channel. As the mana level in his channel began to lower Kyle began breathing in a specific rhythm. This was the breathing technique from the 'breath of Ares', it was similar to breathing exercises divers do before going down increasing the capacity of the lungs. In the case of this technique this increase in air intake meant the amount of mana which can be drawn into the body increases.

Due to Kyle's chest node being clear the amount of mana was increased again and the flow entering his channel began to fill at a surprising rate. If some of the trainers or elders could compare the flow of mana they would realise it was averaging 8 times more than the flow others would have within the first stage. This wasn't due to the breathing technique as between the different methods there wasn't an appreciable difference, instead the difference comes from the mobilization technique as this is when the mana is sent through the nodes.

Carrying on with his cultivation Kyle watched as his channel carried on filling. It reached the point which broke the previous Kyle, but as his channel had been forcefully enlarged he could carry on filling the channel. Kyle had a decision to make at this moment. Would he carry on filling the main channel which could take several weeks to fill, or should he give it a go with what he's got and hope the mana stored within his nodes can assist in the breakthrough.

Deciding to give it a go right away, Kyle first used the method to breakthrough which is shown in the 'breath of Ares'. Taking the energy in the main channel, Kyle drew it back from the gate and then let it loose. This wave of mana impacted the gate with great force making it shudder and bulge inwards. The chains moved however pulling everything back to the same state it was in before. In accordance with the instructions Kyle kept putting force into his mana pushing against the bottleneck, but after the initial impact of the surge of mana regardless of how much force he applied, there was no movement from the gate. This proved what Kyle thought, he couldn't progress due to the chains. Preparing for his next attempt Kyle drew away his mana and once again began piling it up.

As his mana continued to grow he began to siphon off the mana from his nodes. He wasn't taking enough to outpace their replenishment but it increased the growth of his mana in his main channel giving him a better chance of making some progress. Kyle carried on with this process for another 4 hours in real time. By this time he had increased the mana in his main channel by another 10 percent or so. Thinking that now is probably as good a chance as any to try again, Kyle compressed the mana in his main channel as far as possible. He could only do this by using his soul force to surround the mana and move it as low as possible.

While Kyle was controlling his main channel he increased the siphoning from his nodes until he far outpaced the refresh rate. This caused an unexpected phenomena, once the mana in his nodes ran out the mana from his sub-nodes began to move to his main channel. This was a great help as his mana was growing at an exponential rate, but the sub-nodes didn't seem to want to run out.

As Kyle was in his spiritual realm he wasn't paying attention to the real world. If he was he would have realised that as he was trying to draw all the mana from the sub nodes they in turn were drawing mana from the atmosphere through his skin. This rate of absorption was far beyond what has ever been seen previously. This flow of mana could actually be felt physically causing those who were cultivating themselves to be shocked by the mana leaving them.

Kyle's father was one of those who were trying to cultivate. Sensing the mana becoming thin he stopped his training and looked out of the window. Seeing a few of his family members wondering around the grounds of their estate he became less worried. It didn't appear as if there were any adverse affects on the people and it only affected those who were cultivating at that precise moment in time. Deciding to check again in the morning Landon turned to his wife who was currently sleeping in their bed. Smiling to himself he climbed into bed beside her and decided to show her his affection once more.

Returning to Kyle, he decided that now would be as good a time as any. The mana in his main channel was brimming and with the power he drew from his sub-nodes he didn't think he would get a better chance than this. He began to agitate his mana moving it back and forth in as small an area of his main channel as possible. By imparting this energy to the mana it should further increase the power when it impacts his gates.

Finally ready Kyle unleashed the full force he has drawn. The mana exploded out from his control flowing through his main channel like a tsunami. The force of this mana was so great it affected the real world with the temperature dropping and a gust of wind blasting from Kyle's body. The rampant mana blasted through the main channel towards the gate, as the mana was flowing through the channel it began to cause mild damage to Kyle's body due to imparted energy being too much to contain even with his reinforced channel. Kyle exerted his soul force on this mana to lower the damage and also to direct all that force to the gate.

As the wave reached the gate it smashed against it with much more force than previously. This level of mana should be somewhere around a sixth level cultivator. This isn't to say Kyle was as powerful as a sixth level as he couldn't exert all this power without the addition and control from his soul force. The gate itself once more bowed inwards, creaking under the strain. Once again the chains pulled in trying to contain the force and pull the gates back but with a snap one of the chains fell. As Kyle was treating his mana like a wave he pulled it back once the first chain broke, like the tide receding. Pulling back a little energy once again flowed into the wave driving it to the gate once again.

As the wave blasted into the gate once again, the chains pulled again but they were weakened by the last impact and finally succumbed to this unstoppable force. With the fall of the chains the gate finally burst. But rather that just open as Kyle was expecting, the gate exploded under the force of his mana.

"Well damn."