"Well, it looks like we have reached an agreement this time. I guess this invitation comes from Tommi." Auric looked at his phone, wondering if he should text Tommi about it.

However, he was startled by Lindwurm, whose head suddenly entered his vision. He was lying on his bed while staring at his phone, so he didn’t expect Lindwurm to suddenly appear.

"W-What?" Auric’s heart skipped a beat.

"After looking at what we’re going to do, I’m thinking about teaching you something."

"Teaching me something? Is that something going to be useful in this mission?"

"Maybe? Maybe not. However, I’m just worried. I’m preparing you so that you don’t get beaten by students from that university."

"Is that so?" Auric thought for a moment. Lindwurm always taught him useful things, so he was considering whether he should continue focusing on gathering his energy and evolving one or two of his elements or learn from Lindwurm.

Still, his lightning element had already evolved. The best candidates to evolve were his unique element and fire element, but he didn’t necessarily need them yet.

"What do you want to teach me?" Auric asked.

Lindwurm grinned. "Element Fusion. It’s time for you to finally learn it."

"!!!" Auric widened his eyes. "There are three ways to fuse an element, which one are you going to teach me?"

Lindwurm raised three claws. "The first method is to stack them on top of each other. You can make a fire flare up by using plant energy as fuel. It’s something that you can do right now.

"On the other hand, the second method is to coat the power. It will create two layers where they don’t interfere, like water and oil. However, if you stack fire and water, there will be a loss of heat from the fire and an evaporation of the water. It’s good, but not that good.

"That’s why I will be teaching you about the third method. A complete fusion. You will combine multiple elements at once."

Auric immediately rose from his bed. This was what he had been waiting for. "I thought you’d want me to try the second method first."

"No. The second method is just a half-baked method. If it were me, you would either go for the first one or the third one. The second one is just people who fail to achieve complete fusion."

Auric nodded. "All right. What should I do then?"

"First, try to release your fire and plant energy."

Auric raised both hands. His right hand released the fire energy while the left hand manifested the plant energy. "Next?"

"Next, try to combine them as you normally would."

Auric controlled the energy to move toward each other. The moment the two different energies touched each other, the fire energy burned through plant energy. "This is what normally happens..."

"This is what normally happens when there are two energies. No, it’s more accurate to say this is what will happen when you combine the two energies. If there are two people doing this, the clash will be much fiercer."

"Ah!" Auric almost forgot about it—his energy came from the same source, so they didn’t treat each other as enemies.

That was why he could save Axel in the first place.

Auric nodded in understanding. "So..."

"Now, try to release the two elements again."

Auric followed his instructions. After that, Lindwurm added, "Now I want you to combine them, but there is a catch. When you combine them, try to suppress the fiery attribute of the fire element. At the same time, try to make the plant element become much more robust."

Auric frowned. He first suppressed the fire element before trying to make the plant element erupt with more energy.

Then he combined them. This time, the result was slightly different.

Due to the suppression, the fire didn’t flare up as much as he expected. At the same time, the plant element was brimming with more energy, so it was more resistant to the flame.

The flame still burned the plant, but the time it took to burn the plant element increased significantly.

"This..." Auric squinted his eyes slightly. "Are you telling me to find a balance between them?"

"Yes, but that’s not everything."

"Not everything?"

"To fuse the two elements, you need to fuse them literally. The amount of energy, the intensity, and even their power. Only if everything is perfect will you be able to fuse two elements. That’s why only twins are usually able to fuse two elements. Most of the time, twins will feel like they can understand each other and send their energy at the same wavelength."

"Same wavelength..." Auric looked down, contemplating. These two words stuck in his head.

There was another way to describe this phenomenon. Auric couldn’t help but realize what had actually happened during the fusion.

Lindwurm could only describe it as them having the same wavelength. But Auric could see the particles within the elemental energy.

In other words, if he actually put the same amount of particles and the same amount of intensity before combining them, he might actually succeed.

Auric hurriedly lifted up both hands and released the fire element and the plant element again.

Before he combined them, he made sure to match their intensity.

’Is this enough?’ Auric thought to himself before remembering something he had been missing. ’No. I have to also understand the difference in their rating. The flame has a higher rating, so I have to take that into account...’

Auric adjusted it one more time, making the fire even weaker. Then he tried to combine them.

The fire once again burned through the plant, but Auric tried to match the number of particles from each element and tried to make them collide with each other.

This was when he found out what exactly happened when two elements combined.

He could see a red particle and a green particle stuck together and gradually combining to create a larger particle. Instead of becoming a true mix, such as a brown particle, the fused particle was mostly red with many green spots on its surface.

The fire element was a dominant one, so it was only natural for it to become the foundation of the combination.

Still, some particles that failed to fuse ended up getting burned away, but it couldn’t be helped.

The two elements managed to fuse, but he managed only a partial fusion. In other words, his current skill was not enough to fuse the two energies without any losses.

Nonetheless, this was the first step. As he improved his control, he would be able to erase the losses.

Once the two particles combined, Auric tried to manifest the power, forming a blazing root.

Auric looked at the burning root in fascination. Even though it was burning, the root wasn’t turning to ash. The flame was also produced in a controlled manner instead of flaring up because of the root.

"This is amazing..." Auric smiled. "I did it."

"You..." Lindwurm gasped, looking at Auric in horror.

"Huh?" Auric turned to Lindwurm. "Why are you making an expression as if you expected me to fail?"

Lindwurm was the one who wanted to teach him, so he thought Lindwurm had expected him to succeed. So, there should be nothing shocking here.

Lindwurm complained, "Because you shouldn’t have the ability to succeed yet!"

"Oi! I will be angry even if it’s coming from you." Auric’s eyebrows twitched. "So, you are teaching me this fusion with the expectation that I will fail?"

"Exactly!" Lindwurm nodded furiously.

"I’m really getting angry with you now. Should I starve you?" Auric glared at him.

"What I mean is that the reason I’m expecting you to fail is because you shouldn’t have enough control to reach this fusion. That’s why after you fail this fusion, I’m going to teach you what I truly want to teach you this time."

"And what is that?"

"The fusion of the same element!"

"What?!"

"You have multiple fire elements: Violet Fire, Dusk Fire, Blue Fire, and Absolute Fire. I’m thinking that since you have multiple fire elements, combining them should be possible. This way, you can actually form a better fire element, while also camouflaging your other fire elements.

"Another example is your earth element. You have Diamond and Steel, which belong to the earth element. If you’re able to combine them, you can create a diamond wall that is reinforced by the toughness of the steel. In other words, you’re able to use both of them at the same time, and people will think you only have a single earth element.

"However, by combining them, you will be able to take advantage of their strengths at the same time. Your defense will increase by combining those two elements.

"It’s the same as your fire element. Imagine having a fire that can govern other fire elements because it possesses the absolute fire element but has a different color from Tommi’s fire. No one will realize you’ve copied his element."

"Ah!" Auric looked up, realizing that sounded easier than combining two different elements. "Because they belong to the same category, they don’t have as much resistance as these do, thus making them more feasible to combine?"

"Exactly!" Lindwurm agreed. This was the reason Lindwurm was surprised that Auric actually managed to combine elements from different categories.

He didn’t know that Auric was able to see the particles. Even if he couldn’t do it yet, the moment he combined two different fire elements, he would be able to see the particles combining.

It would then result in him figuring out how to combine two elements from different categories.

In other words, Auric succeeded because of his eyes. Auric pondered. "I see. That’s also interesting. What if I combine my fire elements into a single one and then fuse it with the combined plant element? That will be my ultimate power, I guess?"

Lindwurm was speechless. Teaching him element fusion might have caused Auric to make a massive leap. It was unintentional, but this might also make Auric stronger.

"Well... you can do that."

Auric thought about another possibility. "Now that I think about it, can you combine the elements within your body? For example, instead of combining them outside your body, you combine them when the energy is flowing through your veins? No, should I do it even before that?

"Can I actually combine multiple elements into one? Right now, I have nine elemental systems, each with its own orbit.

"So, what do you think about making those orbits disappear by combining all the elements? This way, each system only has an energy reserve and one combined element?

"Well, if you think about it, I can’t really do that for the unique element since I have to treat each of them as an independent orbit. This means there will be eight new systems and one independent system."

Lindwurm couldn’t really deny this possibility. "You’re getting ahead of yourself."

"But you think it’s feasible, right?"

"Ugh." Lindwurm didn’t want to admit it because it might make Auric act recklessly. He explained, "First, you need to combine elements from the same category first. Then, you try to combine elements from different categories. Earlier, there were losses, so you need to ensure that there are no losses first before attempting the third step.

"After all, if there are losses when you try to combine them in your body, your body could end up on fire. The last step would be trying to create the systems you’re talking about. If you don’t follow these steps, I can’t guarantee your safety."

"But surely, I can do the first and second steps at the same time, right? The problem only starts after the third step." Auric raised a finger.

Lindwurm gritted his teeth, but he still said, "Yes."

"Okay. I will practice both of them at the same time." Auric grinned. He became much more excited now that he had found a new thing to learn.

Lindwurm sighed. Now that Auric had become this excited, there was no way to stop him anymore. The only thing he could do was to avoid damage to his body.