The Priest stayed for three days. Three days of sanctimonious prayers and lingering gnces toward our forge. I felt his presence like a splinter in my mind, a constant reminder of the world's desire to categorize and control. But I obeyed the System’s cold logic. I stayed away, spending my hours at the dark ke hidden behind the northern ridge of the Ren Forest.

  [System Warning: High-Level Sensory Field still active within vilge perimeter.]

  [Recommendation: Avoid mana expenditure above 5% capacity. Focus on internal circution.]

  I sat on a ft, moss-covered rock at the water’s edge. The ke was still, a dark mirror reflecting the gray sky. My mastery over Fire, Earth, and Wind had given me a foundation of hunger, stillness, and freedom. But Water... Water was about change. It was about being soft yet crushing, life-giving yet drowning.

  "Water is the mirror of the spirit, Zef," my father had told me before I left. "You can’t force a river to flow; you can only become the bank that guides it."

  I looked at my reflection. My face was thinning, the soft edges of childhood giving way to the sharp, predatory lines of my true self. My eyes, once a bright blue, now held a dull, metallic sheen.

  I reached out, dipping my fingers into the freezing water. I didn't try to pull it. I didn't try to freeze it. I simply tried to feel its ck of shape.

  [Skill Discovery: Fluidity Meditation (Passive/Incomplete)]

  [Analyzing Water Mana Resonance...]

  For hours, I did nothing but watch the ripples. The Fire in me wanted to boil it. The Earth in me wanted to dam it. The Wind in me wanted to scatter it. To master Water, I had to suppress the other three—to find a state of absolute neutrality.

  It was the hardest thing I had ever done. My [Cold Heart] trait made me rigid, efficient, and direct. Water was none of those things. It was indirect. It took the path of least resistance to reach the greatest end.

  "Stop being the bde," I whispered to myself. "Be the blood."

  I closed my eyes and let my Mana seep out of my fingertips into the ke. I stopped trying to control the energy. I let the ke’s natural rhythm pull my Mana into its depths.

  Suddenly, the cold didn't feel like an attack. It felt like an invitation. My Mana began to swirl, matching the slow, deep currents of the ke. The System’s interface flickered wildly.

  [Synchronization Successful: Water Element Affinity Discovered.]

  [New Skill Unlocked: Veil of Mists (Level 1)]

  [Effect: Uses Water and Wind Mana to distort light and sound around the Host. Stealth +30%.]

  I opened my eyes. A thick, unnatural mist was beginning to rise from the surface of the water, swirling around me like a protective shroud. I could feel the moisture in the air, could hear the heartbeat of the fish deep below.

  [Incarnation Synchronization: 2.1%]

  [Exp: 450/1000]

  [Status: Stage 3 refinement progressing...]

  The 2x multiplier was working overtime. I could feel my Mana Core expanding, becoming more versatile. I wasn't just a "Specialist" anymore. I was becoming a "Generalist"—the perfect disguise for a monster.

  As I walked back to the vilge under the cover of twilight, I used my new [Veil of Mists]. I moved through the streets like a ghost, past the tavern where the Priest was dining with the Mayor. I stood outside the window for a moment, invisible in the shadows.

  "The boy is a void," I heard Sis say. His voice was troubled. "I’ve tested hundreds of children. Even the most talented ones have 'leaks'—emotions, fears, sparks of uncontrolled mana. But Zef... he is like a well with no bottom. There is nothing to see because there is too much silence."

  "He's a freak," the Mayor muttered. "His father too. If I had my way—"

  "You will do nothing," Sis interrupted sharply. "The Holy Order does not act on suspicion alone. But I will send a report to the Academy. If he applies, they will keep an eye on him. If he is a 'variable,' the Capital will deal with him."

  I smiled behind my mist. Let them report. Let them watch. They were looking for a "demon" or a "curse." They wouldn't know how to handle a God who had forgotten how to feel.

  I entered the forge through the back. My father was waiting, a bowl of hot stew on the table. He didn't ask where I had been. He just looked at the dampness on my clothes and the way the mist clung to my hair.

  "You have all four now," he said quietly.

  "Yes. Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water."

  "Then the disguise is complete," Garret said, his eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow and pride. "From now on, you are a 'Four-Element Prodigy.' A rare talent, yes, but a human one. Keep your Lightning and your Darkness locked in the deepest basement of your soul. Do not let them out until you are ready to burn the world."

  I sat down and began to eat. The food had no taste. My senses were focused on the [Syer’s Ledger] in my mind.

  [Current Level: 12]

  [Requirement for Departure: Level 20]

  [Time Remaining: 3 Months.]

  "The Priest leaves tomorrow?" I asked.

  "Yes," my father replied. "And after that, the vilge will try to forget you exist. Use that silence. Hunt. Grow. You need eight more levels before the caravan to the Capital arrives."

  I nodded. Eight levels in three months. With the 2x multiplier and the entire Ren Forest as my hunting ground, it wouldn't be a challenge. It would be a sughter.

  As I y in bed that night, I felt the four elements circuting in my body. They were like four different colors of paint, masking the bck and white reality of my soul. I was thirteen years old, Level 12, and already the strongest person within a hundred miles.

  But as I looked at the ceiling, I realized I couldn't remember the st time I had felt truly angry, or truly happy. The [Mental Fortress] was absolute. I was a king in a castle of ice, and the winter was only just beginning.