Ascension of the elder

"What are you wearing?"

Looking to the source of the voice Kyle saw Maria his mum and Shauna her maid who had just come in through the open door. Kyle smiled at them at just responded.

"These are the new clothes I had Nettie make, do you like them."

Before he gave a little twirl and on seeing their expressions he began to laugh.

"Well the style isn't bad and it seems to be easy to move in."

Shauna was looking at the clothes and gave her analytical opinion of them while his mother began checking them over.

"Hum they certainly are a different style but as long as you like them its fine I suppose."

His mother made her opinion known before she continued.

"We're here to start your lesson in array mastery, do you have anywhere we can work."

She was looking around as she had never been to this mansion and found herself surprised by how it looked as she knew it was the oldest building in their estate so she was expecting it to at least have some wear and tear but it looked as if it was brand new.

Kyle could guess what she was thinking from the way her eyes were travelling over everything, but he didn't worry about this as he believed the mansion was built from stronger materials than were currently available and if you add in the strange mana crystal at the core with the ancient arrays a lack of damage is the least strange thing you could expect.

"Follow me there are larger rooms on the third floor and we can use one of those as a training room."

Kyle led the way while Maria and Shauna followed behind but their eyes never stopped moving around the mansion as they took in decor of the building and Maria began to wish that she owned this mansion but it was better it was in her son's hands rather than anyone else's.

When they reached the third floor Kyle led them to a large room in the centre of the north side. This room had large windows which allowed a great deal of natural light as well as being the location of one of the 'shield' arrays which were protecting the mansion. Kyle chose this spot so once he had finished working with his mother he would be able to show her the array and get her opinions on it.

"Excellent Kyle we should be able to practice in this room without any problems. Now show me what you've learnt of the book I gave you so far."

Maria thought she knew Kyle wouldn't have been able to fully study the book she gave him as while Kyle may forget about it, his cognitive process was far higher than even other cultivators due to him having cleared all of his level 0 nodes in his brain and he has already started the process of clearing the level 1 nodes so his mind has undergone a radical change. He had already read and memorised the entire book of arrays in less than an hour so he began to use array protection to show his grasp of the basic arrays. He instantaneously produced five arrays which were floating stably in the air.

When Maria saw this her eyes opened wide and her mouth began to open and close with no sound coming out. This was a high level technique that only some of the best masters could utilise, even her master had said it took her years to be able to do this and it was an indication that an array master had reached the current top level of their craft. Maria had been trying to use this technique for the last few years and while she had made progress she still felt she was a few years away from being able to create an array in this way let alone five at once.

Once Kyle had finished producing and stabilising the arrays he looked towards his mother and saw her eyes bugging out and her mouth was moving, gradually he heard a quiet voice coming for her which appeared she wasn't even aware of.

"I can't even do that."

"I used to be called a genius."

"Maybe I should quit being an array master and become a farmer."

Hearing this Kyle looked towards Shauna who looked shocked but not to the level of his mother. Deciding to clarify what was going on he asked them both.

"What's the matter?"

Shauna looked at Maria who still appeared to be suffering from a mental meltdown so answered for her.

"This is a high level technique which only top level array masters can use. Your mother has been trying to use this technique but hasn't been able to for the last few years."

Understanding what the situation was Kyle looked at his mum before he had an idea.

"Mum you know my special sight right, well I may be able to use that to help you. Can you try and produce an array through projection and I'll see if I can help."

Upon hearing Kyle Maria immediately perked up as this may be the guidance she needed in order to step into this realm of artistry and finally stand in front of her master with her head held high. Her master never demanded anything of her but Maria wouldn't be able to rest easy until she had at least reached this new level and showed her progress.

Maria nodded to Kyle and began to assemble a simple array in her spirit realm in order to project it once it was complete. She didn't find it strange that her son would be the one to teach her rather than the other way around as while she was shocked and had a mini meltdown, this was offset but the burning pride she had in her son.

Kyle dismissed the arrays he had produced before moving closer to his mother so she was in the range of his sight before he dove in to her spirit realm. Once he was in he saw what his mother was doing. She was producing the array for 'light' as this was a simple array with a simple control ring and was usually the first array people learnt as there was very little that could go wrong.

Maria had already completed the core glyph and had started generating the control ring. When the ring was around half complete it began to destabilise before finally collapsing allowing the mixed soul force and mana to dissipate.

Coming out of his mother's spirit realm, Kyle saw his mother was kneeling on the floor gulping in air. She looked a little pale and sweaty which made Kyle worry for her.

"Mum are you okay?"

"I'm fine the backlash from the loss of the array has just tired me out. I'll be fine in about 10 minutes or so."

Kyle and Shauna helped Maria to a couch in the room so she could rest more comfortably while they watched over her and waited for her to recover. After 10 minutes Maria had recovered and was raring to go again.

"So Kyle what do you think?"

Kyle thought back to her construction of the array and thought his way through how it ended.

"Well you've got no problem with the amount of mana you've got instead it seems to be a lack of soul force which is preventing you from completing the array."

When Maria heard this she was a little confused as Kyle had mentioned soul force before in relation to his new abilities but what did that have to do with the array. Seeing her confusion Kyle decided to clarify.

"When you're creating an array it isn't just mana you use, you also use some soul force mixed in unknowingly but both are required. The constraints in using array projection are probably due to the higher demands on both your soul force and mana. Can you try and produce the same array again?"

Maria didn't even pause when Kyle said this and began to construct the same array again, as she thought Kyle probably had an idea as to how she could progress. Kyle dove straight back in and watched the process with a great deal of focus.

Once Maria had finished the centre glyph she carried on with the control ring. Once again she only got so far and it began to destabilise again but this time Kyle used his own soul force to reinforce the array.

"Mum pull back from the array and reabsorb the energy from it."

Hearing what Kyle said Maria immediately complied and pulled back her mana which also pulled the soul force back which prevented her from suffering the rebound. Kyle was hoping that when she did this some of his soul force would be drawn back with it strengthening hers but it didn't happen as they were still separate forces.

"Okay let's try again."

Maria once again went through the process and the array began to destabilise when the control ring was produced, but Kyle could see the ring was more complete this time. It appeared that when Maria had successfully pulled back it allowed her soul force to increase, however this may be an outlier so Kyle repeated this process several more times and each time the ring was more complete. This wasn't a massive increase but it was visible, this probably explained why it took others a long time to reach this level as after each attempt they would need to rest and after they did it for a long time they would have to take a break for a few days.

"Okay mum I know how to train you."