Kyle started his experiments of combining Wind, Fire, and Metal Ether.
Just an hour after he started, he realized one thing.
'Yep, just as I've thought. This is going to be way harder. As soon as I add a third Element, stuff completely breaks. I can attune one of the Elements with another, but as soon as a third one appears, it just fizzles out.'
'But it has to be possible. It's just much harder.'
Kyle continued experimenting.
After about a year, he got the first results that didn't immediately fizzle out.
Tiny pebbles that immediately broke into pieces before turning to ash.
'It's progress, I guess.'
At some point, Sebastian returned to talk with Kyle a bit more.
"I'm stuck," Sebastian said. "I'm so close to understanding the Fragment of Nerves, but I just can't combine the last couple of insights."
"No matter what I do, something goes wrong. I feel like I'm missing something, but I'm sure that I got everything. I septuple checked everything. I looked at the most random stuff I could find that could be even remotely related to the Fragment, but there's just no more stuff."
"I already got everything! I'm just too stupid to combine it!"
As Kyle listened to Sebastian, he was reminded of something.
"You know that Momentum is important for comprehension, right?" Kyle asked.
"Of course I do!" Sebastian said with a bit of annoyance. "Momentum affects the Ether around you, which makes it easier to sense. Your will partially affects it, and when it is affected by it, your will receives feedback."
Kyle blinked a couple of times. "Huh, so, that's the reason. Never knew."
"Wait, what?" Sebastian asked with a surprised expression. "You didn't know why Momentum was important?"
"I didn't know the reason. I just knew that it was," Kyle said. "Anyway, the reason why I'm asking is because maybe a True Battle would help."
"How would that help?" Sebastian asked. "Subsequent battles without an advancement have diminishing returns based on the power of your Momentum. If I want a similar increase to what I got in my battle against the Holy King, I would need to go through four or five more battles."
"Huh, I also didn't know that," Kyle said. "I thought the increase was flat."
"How did you not know that as well?!" Sebastian asked in shock. "This is the basic stuff! Didn't that stone in your head tell you that?"
"Nah," Kyle answered. "He probably didn't know a lot about Momentum. Actually, now that I think about it, his Momentum probably wasn't that high. Not sure how many truly dangerous battles he has been in."
"There are diminishing returns," Sebastian said with a sigh. "If my Momentum increased by one point after my fight with the Holy King, it will increase by about 0.5 points after a similarly difficult battle. Then, it will increase by about 0.25 points after my next battle. Then, 0.125 points. Four battles added up would give me about 0.94 points."
"And I'm not even starting at one. I already went through two difficult battles at this level. If I want a noticeable difference, I would have to go through two or three more battles. It would not be a big increase, but at least I would notice it."
"However, I can also just advance and fight again. With my new base level, my next True Battle will give me over five times more benefits than any battle in this Realm would give me."
"I already have a Level Two Law. Understanding some Biological Fragments won't give me any additional bonuses in the Transcendent Realm since they can't even hope to compare to a Level Two law."
"I'm just comprehending these Fragments because I have nothing else to do. I'm not going to risk my life two or three more times for a mere pastime activity."
Kyle scratched the back of his head. "I just wanted to help."
Sebastian sighed. "I know. I'm sorry for getting this agitated. It's just… It's been 14 years without any progress. It's… not easy."
"I understand," Kyle said with a sigh of his own. "I'm trying my best, okay? It'll just take a while."
"Yes, yes," Sebastian said. "It's fine. Keeping you from your research won't make the time move faster. It accomplishes the opposite, in fact."
"Guess I just wanted to vent a bit," he said.
A couple of Kyle's ideas had already been shut down, and he wasn't sure if he should try one more.
"But you do know that the battle itself also helps, right? Your mind goes wild during a battle, and it might push your mind beyond the edge," Kyle said.
Sebastian sighed. "I know. I already thought about it, but for just a single Biological Fragment, it's honestly not worth it. I can still do that later."
Kyle shrugged. "Then, just accumulate knowledge. Drop the Fragment of Nerves for now and learn about something else. You can always continue later."
"I guess I should do that," Sebastian said. "Anyway, I should leave you to it."
"Yep, sorry about the long wait," Kyle said.
"It's fine. Seriously!" Sebastian said. "As far as I can see, you're sacrificing your life for me. Who knows what that shady company has planned for us with that horrible clause?"
"Your Karma might actually get fucked," Sebastian said. "You might even get stuck in this world for thousands of years, while I can continue to grow."
"I'm not going to complain about a wait."
Kyle sighed when he thought about his future.
He really hoped the company wouldn't fuck him too hard.
"Yeah, well," Kyle said. "I signed the contract, and I've already promised that I would become the Overseer to the Duchess of Twilight."
"Still sucks, though."
The two of them remained in silence for a couple of seconds before Sebastian said that he would get back to his own stuff.
Some seconds later, Sebastian left.
Kyle looked at the three kinds of Ether he was trying to fuse.
'When this is done…'
'I probably have to go through hell.'
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