Chapter 20. Mastery [FIXED]
I woke up in a contradictory state. On one hand, I'd gained a brand-new bending art through a 1+1 deal, but it had happened so suddenly that it felt like it had been forced upon me.
My usual dive into the deeper layers of my chi yielded the expected result, but that didn't make it any less desirable. My neutral source now had three planets. Alongside the familiar bending arts, a new one appeared—a sphere of brown energy that looked oddly monumental. The source, born from killing a mid-level spirit, was quite powerful, just shy of reaching mid-rank. If I use it often enough, I'll be able to upgrade it soon.
The energy is tense right now, so I should give myself a couple of days to rest. It's all so strange. As a low-level spirit, I could have one bending art, but now as a mid-level spirit, I can have two more. This opens up several paths for development. For example, maybe each new rank grants me one additional bending art. If so, at the highest rank, I could gain three new bending arts. Or perhaps at each new level, the number of bending arts doubles. I had waterbending, and at the mid-level, I got two more, so at the highest level, I'd get six new ones—not counting the neutral source, of course. Maybe I can even gain another bending art right now. Well, speculating is pointless. I'll just have to be extra cautious after each new bending art at the highest level.
If I really do get that many bending arts, I could start looking for rarer ones—lifebending, deathbending, maybe even spiritbending. But for now, I should focus on the core four. They're easier to master, and there are already well-trodden paths for them.
All that can wait. Right now, I need to check in with my family, take a bath, and go relax for a couple of hours. The state I was in while absorbing the new source can't be called proper rest.
After a couple of days, I felt refreshed and ready to experiment with the new bending arts. It's a shame I'll have to master them without scrolls or books. In the library, I only found a couple of books describing stances and techniques for firebending, likely leftovers from the war, but it's still far from enough. Still, it'll be more fun this way. I still remember all the techniques from the animated series, so I'll try to recreate them. I might make mistakes here and there, but I can always relearn.
I'll start with firebending. What do I even know about it?
True firebenders in nature are dragons. They were the ones who taught the first firebenders, then called Warriors of the Sun. Apparently, their direct descendants still exist, honoring dragons and worshipping fire. They were the ones who taught Aang and Zuko firebending.
To train this bending art, I had to go far outside the city, ensuring no one would discover my gift. People here are impressionable and might come up with wild ideas, leaving me to deal with the consequences of their "correct" conclusions.