Kyle focused on his unstable Ether.
'Okay, remember how it works. Just gotta do everything you've learned. That will only take…'
'Three hours,' Kyle thought as he grew more nervous.
Naturally, Theodor had already given Kyle an extensive rundown on how to reach the Third Realm.
Reaching the Third Realm wasn't as complex as reaching the Second Realm since there were no Tomes that were changing the entire makeup of the Aspects.
One essentially just had to guide one's Ether in a certain way.
The only truly crucial part was the order in which one strengthened the Aspects.
Since the rituals changed one's Ether allocation across the Aspects of Power, one needed to strengthen one Aspect at a time.
Fighters, for example, needed to strengthen their mind before strengthening their body.
A Sorcerer needed to strengthen their Center before strengthening their mind.
An Artificer needed to strengthen their mind before strengthening their Soul.
The reason for this order was simple.
Limited Ether.
There was only so much Ether one could use during the breakthrough, and there was not enough to strengthen everything equally as long as someone had undergone a ritual.
If one hadn't undergone a ritual, there would be enough Ether for everything.
However, rituals added a bit of Ether in some parts.
Because of that, the order of strengthening determined the power of the Aspects after the advancement.
Whichever part was strengthened first would become the strongest.
The first strengthened part was about 20% more powerful than the second.
Of course, Kyle had more parts he needed to strengthen since he had an Aristocrat's Body.
One would think that Kyle could just strengthen everything equally, but that was actually not the case.
For Warriors with an Aristocrat's Body, it was more dangerous to advance since their being had much more Ether.
They had to strengthen their mind first. This would give them enough control over the Ether they were absorbing.
After that, they needed to strengthen their body.
Lastly, they strengthened the Center and Soul simultaneously.
This would create an imbalance in the Aspects of Power, but it was a necessary evil.
If someone with an Aristocrat's Body strengthened their Center first, their being would absorb the Ether of the breakthrough much faster, and without a strengthened mind, a lot of it would just enter random spots.
That was why the mind had to be strengthened first.
However, that took a long time.
Usually, when beasts broke through, it only took a few minutes, at most.
The reason for that was that their instincts essentially just absorbed everything and allocated it automatically.
For them, this was the right decision since they had natural bodies.
However, the rituals changed the bodies without changing their instincts.
Letting the instincts do everything automatically would cause issues since most of the Ether would enter the irrelevant parts of the Aspects as long as one had undergone a ritual.
Warriors without an Aristocrat's Body didn't have it any better. If they let their instincts take hold, a big chunk of the Ether would enter irrelevant parts. They needed to strengthen everything, but they still needed to allocate every bit of Ether, one piece at a time.
Kyle knew all of that, which was why he was in a problematic situation.
He was supposed to tell his Ether where to go, and that needed time.
However, he was not in a safe location.
It was only a matter of time until a random Metal Elemental sensed the gigantic hunk of metal lying near Kyle.
And this underground ruin definitely was not some kind of safe haven. After all, the second Metal Elemental had already been here, and the third Metal Elemental had burst through the walls to join the fight.
'I have to try it anyway!' Kyle thought. 'I need all the power I can get! Chances are that I have to kill a Nature God as a Peak Expert! If I mess up this breakthrough, I might as well ask Theodor to explode my brain right now!'
Kyle felt an unending stream of Ether entering his body, and he quickly diverted it to his mind.
Or, at least, he tried to.
Sadly, he couldn't divert it.
The only thing he could do was to create a proverbial dam and to open the small floodgate leading to his mind.
Kyle did just that, and he slowly felt the Ether entering his mind.
While that happened, Kyle looked around occasionally.
The city was quiet, but that didn't mean anything.
As he focused more on his advancement, Kyle became more nervous.
This felt bad.
Really bad!
For the first time in a long while, Kyle actually grew afraid.
He kept looking around in panic.
That was when a stone fell from a ruined wall, and Kyle's focus broke.
For just an instant, all the Ether flowed freely.
Of course, Kyle quickly took control of the Ether again.
That was when his fear reappeared.
'Wait, reappeared?' Kyle thought.
Kyle lifted an eyebrow.
Then, for just a moment, he let the Ether flow freely again.
As soon as the Ether entered his entire body, his nervousness vanished.
'Huh?' Kyle thought. 'I haven't heard of that before. I've never heard of anyone becoming afraid or nervous because of the way their Ether flowed.'
"What are you doing?!" Theodor shouted in anger.
This was the first time Theodor had shown any kind of emotion in years.
Kyle didn't answer as he focused on his instincts.
'Instincts.'
'The Predator's Being!'
'My instincts are much more powerful than the instincts of others. 99% of the time, my instincts are spot-on.'
'And, right now, my instincts are telling me to just let the Ether do its thing.'
'But that will weaken me quite a bit.'
'Around 30% of the Ether enters useless parts, essentially wasting it.'
'But my instincts…'
"Focus!" Theodor shouted. "Don't ruin your breakthrough!"
Kyle didn't answer as he just looked forward with furrowed brows.
Then, he shrugged his head.
'Sure, go ahead.'
'You've not let me down yet.'
And then, Kyle completely let go of the Ether and just let it do whatever it wanted.
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