The ice sanctum was filled with majesty and beauty. Its temperature was insanely cold, below freezing point, and if not for his meager ability to control the ice element, Atticus would have long since frozen.
Atticus went through another wave of murmurs and chatter as he followed Isolde through the sanctum.
"What the…"
However, there was a major difference this time around. Atticus had no idea why, but every single person he saw in the ice sanctum was female.
They all had cold and calculating demeanors and were all beautiful.
Isolde noticed Atticus' confusion and decided to address it.
"It's something we also don't fully understand, but it is extremely rare to find a male ice elementalist."
Atticus felt "rare" was an understatement. He couldn't spot even a single male no matter how long he looked.
The walk went uninterrupted until they reached a small lakeside. Atticus couldn't help but recall his time at the water sanctum when he saw the lake. But he could spot a major difference—the water was emitting steam.
Despite the low temperature of the sanctum, the water of the lake was still scorching hot.
The lake was free of anyone, and only Isolde and Atticus were in the area.
Isolde turned towards Atticus and spoke,
"This will be where your first lesson will take place. Considering how fast you finished the other sanctums, I think it's safe for me to assume that you're an incredibly fast learner, so let us begin immediately."
Isolde turned and faced the steamy lake.
"The ice element, as you know, is a subset of the water element. However, water elementalists cannot form or manipulate ice. Do you know why?"
Atticus didn't respond immediately and decided to deeply ponder the question. He went through everything he had learned about the water element in his head and reached a conclusion quickly.
It was plenty obvious.
"The inability to lower the temperature of water."
Isolde nodded.
"Yes, you're half right. It is the inability to lower the temperature of the water molecule. This is what separates water elementalists from ice elementalists. We do not use a separate molecule in the air for forming ice; it's still the water molecules. However, instead of forming a connection with the molecules, making them react with mana and joining them together, we form a connection, making them react with mana and lowering their temperature before joining them together. Am I making any sense?"
Atticus nodded his head immediately. His mind was already working on digesting everything Isolde had said.
"Well, if you understand, then get to work. The temperature of the water is very hot, so you can simply sit down at the edge to meditate."
The process was pretty straightforward: the mana in the air interacts with the water molecules, thereby absorbing heat from it, reducing its temperature, and turning it into ice.
The water molecules around this scorching lake were, as expected, very hot. It made figuring out the process of forming ice easier but actually replicating the process harder.
Atticus released a deep exhale, his focus peaking.
Then, he formed a connection with the hot water molecules in the air in front of him and began the process.
Upon forming said connection, Atticus was able to immediately determine that using the ice element, he couldn't control the water molecules. So, he did what he could.
The water molecules reacted with the mana in the air, and the scorching heat contained in each one of the molecules began getting sucked away.
The process was rapid, and Atticus instantly felt the temperature of the molecules dropping at a fast rate. In the next second, a small layer of frost started appearing on each of their forms.
As soon as Atticus noticed this, he attempted to join each one of them together and form something, but he immediately failed. The molecules weren't joining together no matter how much he tried.
Atticus stopped connecting with the molecules and immediately started thinking. 'If the molecules don't join together, then how do I create ice?'
Isolde stared at Atticus without saying anything. She left the explanation of the creation of ice as vague as possible to see if Atticus was what they said he was. She was a bit shocked he had been able to lower the temperature in the first place but quickly regained her composure.
'He will have to ask me how to do it,' she thought. freёwebnoѵel.com
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