[Still, for your current level, this ability is absurdly useful, especially against Demon Lords. Hehe!!!]

"Right..." William replied, though his expression had already calmed down considerably from earlier excitement.

The thought of infinite mana still sounded unbelievable, but Orion’s explanation about higher-order energies had dampened the fantasy somewhat. Even if he possessed limitless mana, that did not suddenly make him invincible against beings who operated on completely different principles of power.

After a moment of thought, William asked another question.

"Do you know how I can unlock more energy?"

[You would need to physically come into contact with them first.]

William immediately fell into thought.

Technically speaking, he had already encountered one during his battle with Lux, hadn’t he? That strange green glittering energy Xythia used was clearly something superior to mana. However, he had only integrated the Aether Seed afterward, so perhaps that contact did not count.

He rubbed his chin while considering possibilities.

"Maybe I could ask Xythia to lend me some of that green glittery dust she uses," he muttered. "Or maybe I can study that divine sword that helped Lux descend."

As soon as he voiced the ideas aloud, Orion responded calmly.

[The divine sword was probably a single-use item.]

[As for Xythia, there is likely a limit to how many times she can descend into this realm.]

Then Orion paused briefly before adding another concern.

[More importantly, are you certain you want the goddess to realize that you somehow managed to wield her energy after merely touching it?]

William slowly nodded.

That argument made complete sense.

The last thing he needed right now was attracting even more dangerous attention from beings far beyond his current level.

"Anyway," William said while exhaling softly, "there are still a lot of things on this status panel that I don’t understand."

He reopened the interface and scanned through the information once more. This time, his attention settled on a newly appeared section that categorized his elemental affinities.

———— ELEMENTS ————

The Radiant Family: SUN*, LIGHT, FIRE, THUNDER, STORM*

The Umbral Family: DARKNESS, SHADOW*, NETHER*

The Bios Family: EARTH, WATER, WIND, ICE, METAL*

The Celest Family: SPACE

The Vital Family: BLOOD*

The Arcane Family: RUNE, LUNAR*

————————————————

William stared at the screen with visible confusion.

"Since when did elements start forming families?"

[In this context, "family" refers to a broad classification system based on the nature, intent, effects, and outcomes associated with each element.]

Orion continued explaining patiently.

[For example, the Radiant Family contains elements associated with illumination, purification, destructive brilliance, effectiveness against evil-aligned entities, and a hot temper. Even if an element satisfies only one of those conditions, it may still belong to the Radiant Family.]

[Do not focus too much on the name itself. Each family is named after its founding element. In this case, the founding element is light.]

William looked back at the list skeptically.

"Then why the hell is Storm inside the Radiant Family?" he asked with a scoff. "Storms literally bring dark clouds, destruction, floods, and chaos."

[The host should notice the asterisk beside its name.]

William blinked before looking again.

[That symbol signifies a hybrid element.]

[Storm qualifies for both the Radiant Family and the Bios Family because it is formed through the culmination of multiple elemental interactions—specifically Thunder, Wind, and Water.]

[The Sun element functions similarly. It is also a hybrid born from interactions between multiple elemental families.]

William slowly nodded while processing the explanation.

"So, hybrids are basically elements created when different families overlap?"

[Correct.]

"And why are they placed in one family over another?"

[Their placement depends on dominant nature and intent. For example, in the case of a storm, it brings brilliant destruction and has a hot temper; a bit of illumination from thunder is involved as well.]

William tilted his head slightly.

"And what exactly counts as a hybrid in specific terms?"

[When two or more elements from different families combine to form a new elemental existence, the result is classified as a hybrid.]

William remained silent for a second before asking with complete seriousness:

"So... elements can mate and birth new elements?"

Orion went quiet for a moment.

[no.]

[There is no concept of reproduction, romance, marriage, or biological multiplication among elements. Once formed, elemental existences are effectively immortal. They possess no need to reproduce like mortal races.]

William clicked his tongue.

"That’s weird as hell."

Still, the topic strangely fascinated him.

At this point, William no longer thought of elements as simple forces of nature. Spending so much time around Tamasya had already warped his perspective. She spoke about Shadow as though it were a living being with thoughts and emotions of its own. After hearing her way of addressing the shadow repeatedly, William had unconsciously started viewing elements similarly.

Though honestly, he was not entirely sure whether normal people in this world viewed elements that way, too.

Pushing those thoughts aside, William focused on the screen again while mentally organizing the classifications.

The Umbral Family appeared straightforward enough. Everything within it revolved around concealment, fear, corruption, dread, or the absence of illumination. Darkness clearly seemed to be the founding element there.

The Bios family looked deeply connected to nature and the physical world. Earth, water, wind, ice, and metal are all felt as grounded elements with clear physical and materialistic manifestations. William assumed that nature itself was probably the founding element of that family.

Then there was the Celest Family.

The space element was put there currently, but William also suspected that elements like time and gravity probably belonged there, too. Perhaps even parts of the Sun element originated from celestial family elements.

Still, he had no idea what the founding element of the Celest family could be.

The Vital Family felt clearly obvious from its name. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Vital" naturally implied life, existence, and biological functions. Blood being categorized there made complete sense. William assumed that the life element was likely the founding element of that family.

Finally, his attention turned to the arcane family.

Out of all the classifications, this one felt the strangest.

Rune and lunar elements were placed there.

"Why is Lunar part of the arcane family?" William asked curiously.

[Because its nature aligns with the family.]

Orion elaborated further.

[Lunar energy is rare, mysterious, emotionally influential, and difficult to fully comprehend. Its behavior does not follow ordinary logic, as it heavily influences the emotions of the wielder as well as the target; even the sun has some of those capabilities, but nowhere near what Lunar possesses.]

[It also possesses contradicting powers; in a lunar eclipse, it festers and facilitates the curses and elements close to the Umbra family. In other cases, it is considered illuminating and radiant, like the radiance family elements.]

William nodded slowly.

That explanation also made Rune make more sense in hindsight. Rune affinity was notoriously rare and difficult to master.

Still, after thinking through all these classifications, he realized something important.

None of this information changed his powers directly. The elements still behaved the same way they always had. The system was merely organizing concepts that already existed.

William eventually let out a quiet breath and closed the elemental tab.

"I’ll think about all this later."

Right now, there was something more important he wanted to examine.

His newly awakened Lunar Sovereign Divine Physique.

----------

[A/N: I know there was an auxiliary Chapter where elements were classified into fundamental and derived elements; that Chapter becomes relevant by the end of the story when the whole cosmology of the world is revealed layer by layer. Meanwhile, this concept of familia is a domestication of a broader idea, so don’t confuse the two]