"So? What do you think of it?" Kyle asked.
"It's… beautiful," Sebastian said.
"Yeah, it sure looks good," Kyle answered.
"I think I also know what this means," Sebastian said.
"In what sense?" Kyle asked.
"The Anti-Elements," Sebastian said. "I think they are all created by the Deepwind."
"Huh? How and why?" Kyle asked with raised brows.
"Have you ever seen Winterfire?" Sebastian asked.
"Nope," Kyle answered.
"The Winterfire comes out of a deep and wide hole in the ground. It streams out of the hole at incredible speeds and spreads in the sky," Sebastian said. "If my theory is correct, the same thing should be happening with Skysand."
"Huh, you're right," Kyle said. "Skysand comes out of a big hole in one of our mountain ranges. It also spreads across the sky."
Sebastian nodded and pointed at the place where the water met the Deepwind.
"Deepwind seems to have a significant effect on other Ether. It seems to be able to change some of the Ether's properties."
"Metal should be one of the very few things that can resist this change. Most likely, Metal Ether is just too stable."
"I assume any metal that falls into the Deepwind is just turned into tiny fragments, which surface somewhere else. Oh! The stone!" Sebastian suddenly shouted.
"I get it!" Kyle answered. "You think the Metal Ether bits are so small that they can fuse with stone? That's where this weird Metal-Earth Ether stone is coming from."
Sebastian nodded excitedly. "Exactly!"
"I theorize that Winterfire comes from magma. If you have a huge channel going all the way from the surface to the Deepwind, there's bound to be a lot of magma-flow, right?"
Kyle nodded, remembering the huge wall he had created around his hole to stop all the magma from filling it. "Yep, bunch of magma."
Sebastian also nodded. "Most likely, the magma flows downward, and when it hits the Deepwind, it transforms into Winterfire. The Winterfire shoots up, passing by the dropping magma."
"As long as the channel is wide enough, the Winterfire won't freeze the dropping magma, and we have an eternal stream of magma and Winterfire."
"The same thing is probably true for Skysand, except that it's just pure earth instead of metal. If stone falls into the Deepwind, it will be ground into pieces, and the individual bits of Earth Ether turn into Skysand."
"The Skysand takes to the sky through a hole and spreads across the world. It's possible that there's just a constant stream of normal sand falling into the Deepwind in that mountain range you talked about."
"Deepwind is the source of all the Anti-Elements," Sebastian said. "At least, I think it is."
"Sounds about right to me," Kyle said.
Then, he looked up at the ceiling of ice. "Why's there even ice here? It's quite toasty here."
"Pressure," Sebastian answered. "Put water under enough pressure, and it turns into solid ice. However, put enough heat into water, and it turns into steam."
"We are currently in a zone of equilibrium. The heat and pressure are at levels that keep water in its liquid form. If you ascend, the heat of the Anti-Ice drops faster than the pressure. That changes the balance, and water turns into ice."
Sebastian pointed at the storm of steam. "On the other hand, when you get too close to the Anti-Ice, the water turns into steam."
"Also, just for correct nomenclature, we should call the Anti-Elements by their appropriate names."
"Skysand is Anti-Earth."
"Winterfire is Anti-Fire."
"Deepwind is Anti-Wind."
"And this thing is Anti-Water."
"Sure," Kyle said, "but why not Anti-Ice?"
"Ice is just a form of water," Sebastian said. "Water Ether and Ice Ether are different, but they are not very different. The properties of Water Ether are extremely versatile. Have you ever fought with or against someone with a Water Affinity?"
"Eh, I don't think so," Kyle said.
"Water has a low skill-floor but a high skill-ceiling," Sebastian said. "Most people with a Water Affinity never make it to the Third Realm, but the few of them that do are quite formidable."
"They can mix and match Ice, Water, and Steam Ether. Their attacks are very varied. It's almost like they have an answer to almost everything."
"Then, what about that Harald guy?" Kyle asked.
Sebastian snorted. "I meant what I've said. I'm pretty sure I can take him on myself. He's a one-trick pony. If you don't know his one trick, he's pretty dangerous, but if you actually know about it, he's weak."
Sebastian sneered. "That's probably also why they didn't want me to become a Transcendent. He's almost helpless against the others. I'm not."
"Seems like it," Kyle said.
Sebastian snorted again. "I still think they should've chosen me."
"But they won the war, right?" Kyle asked. "Seems to me like they made the right call."
Sebastian rolled his eyes.
But then, he had a thought and looked at Kyle.
"Where did you fight? " he asked.
"I didn't fight," Kyle said.
"Wait, what?" Sebastian asked in shock. "You're telling me you were not part of that big fight?"
"Nope," Kyle answered.
"But… how? What?" Sebastian asked. "Why would the Skysand Kingdom not force you to participate? You could've swung the entire war to the opposite side!"
Kyle smirked. "Because they didn't know exactly how powerful I was. I just paid them off with a bunch of Rank A Materials."
Sebastian blinked a couple of times as he made some calculations.
"If you had defended the Crown Prince, I would have met you in battle. We two would have fought, and the outcome of the fight actually wouldn't even matter."
"You wouldn't need to win. You just needed to waste enough time."
"The Crown Prince and that other guy would have become Transcendents. The First Advisor would have died anyway."
"At that point, you would have two more Transcendents than us. Then, we would get help from His Holiness, who counts as two Transcendents."
"If you had joined, the two Kingdoms would still be equally as powerful, assuming the General of Skysand still died."
Sebastian looked at Kyle with a complex expression.
"Your choice not to join the war ended the war."
"Crazy."
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