Avatar - Conquering the Elements-Chapter 112

Yo. The Library of Van Shi Tong.

Two pairs of eyes were fixed on the story of a young girl who decided to join the army in place of her aging father. At that very moment, an illusory Mulan swept through Celine and me, making us swivel our hips slightly to take in everything happening.

"The cartoons back then were so stylish!" Maybe I'm a bit old-fashioned, but I believe *The Lion King*, *Mulan*, *Tarzan*, *Balto*, and other cartoons from the '90s and early 2000s are the best. "I think some people will agree with me," I said, glancing at Celine, who seemed to be staring without blinking.

Recently, Van Shi Tong created an illusion room, which I simply called a cinema. It all started when I began telling Celine fairy tales. The storytelling was accompanied by ice, fire, or stone figurines of the characters and locations. For my daughter, of course, I didn't mind summoning one of my selves for an hour or two.

Sometimes I was busy and couldn't act as the storyteller. Then the role fell to Driya and Gaia, who, however, couldn't fully satisfy Celine's desires. So, the little, uncommonly intelligent girl went to Van Shi Tong, whom she calls Uncle Owl, asking him to tell her something interesting. He probably found it easier to solve the issue once and for all than to wait for the little visitor every time. That's how the room we're sitting in now was created. Here, all the cartoons I've ever watched are loaded. I'd hang out here all day myself, but even good things should be enjoyed in moderation.

Besides, my memory vividly reminded me of the "TV show binges" I used to have in my past life. I don't want to repeat that now. Maybe when I'm a bit more confident about the future...

"Well, that's it for today," I said after the Disney cartoon ended. "Don't make that face, you know I don't make the rules here, and you can't win against two moms," I continued, avoiding my daughter's face—I might not hold back otherwise.

Yes, she has two moms—one is Driya, and the other is Gaia. Of course, we tried to explain that it's not like that. But then we thought about it and acknowledged the truth: Gaia, even though not her biological mother, plays just as big a role in her life as Driya and I do. So, it wouldn't be right to push her aside. Gaia walked around with a happy smile for a whole month.

"O-kaaay, let's go to bed," she said with a yawn, seeing that her plea didn't work. "Dad, why is it so unfair? Unlike humans, spirits don't need to sleep, they hardly get sick, and they can live for a very, very long time..."

"But they don't have life energy, and at first, they're too tied to their element," I continued with a smile, gently stroking her flower on her head. Her complaint was understandable—who among us didn't want to stay up just one more hour in front of the TV or computer as kids?

Celine inherited a lot from her human side: the need for sleep, food, air, and water. But she also took something from Driya—for example, Celine hasn't grown an inch in the past months. We didn't panic immediately since the same was true for her mother, who only grew older after reaching a new rank. The thought was correct, but Van Shi Tong added a bit more. According to his observations, she needs not only a certain rank but also a corresponding level of life energy to grow up. And honestly, I really want her to stay this small and sweet for as long as possible...

Following tradition, we didn't head to our chambers right away but decided to walk a bit more, so to speak, to fully drain Celine's energy.

"Father, if they take you to the army, I'll go instead of you!" Celine looked up at me with her hilariously serious expression. It took all my strength not to burst into a smile and to nod seriously, sincerely thanking my little protector. Clearly, the cartoon had made an impression. Unable to resist, I picked her up.

"And Mom Gaia wants a little girl too," Celine suddenly said.

"Why do you think that?" I asked curiously, though I could see the longing in her eyes.

"I don't know," she shrugged lightly. "I just feel it."

"And do you want a little sister?"

"Yes, we could play together!" she replied quickly... There you go, Dad. Kids her age need peers, need socialization, and she's stuck here in four walls. We take her out to cities and nature, hiding her hair under a voluminous hat, but that's probably not enough. I need to think about this seriously...

After tucking the already sleepy Celine into bed, I headed to the Spirit of Knowledge's office. He said he had something to discuss with me.

"What's this about?" I asked straight away, noticing the strange multicolored schemes and lines filling the entire office.

"I'm almost done developing a barrier to contain the Great Ravu and Vatu," he said, looking up from something on his desk. "And according to preliminary calculations, we'll need ten thousand mid-level conquerors from each of the four primary elements."

Forty thousand conquerors?!

"Alright, let's calculate... We can safely check off the earth and fire conquerors," I began counting on my fingers. "By the year of the Dark Spirit's release, we'll definitely have that many. Okay, we can even include water mages in this list—if nothing catastrophic happens, we can expect that number... But what about air mages?"

"I have some ideas," he replied, which was a relief—I was already thinking I'd have to become a 'machine' for producing little air nomads... "And even if we don't gather that many air mages, we can use air spirits. Plus, each high-level spirit replaces ten mid-level ones, the same goes for conquerors. So, it's in your best interest to create as many masters as possible. But it's better to plan as if we won't have spirit assistance. Every spirit helping with the barrier reduces the number defending you later. I don't think the Dark Spirit will be happy with our initiative—expect all dark spirits to be drawn to us."

"I understand," I nodded, still lost in thought. So, I should talk to Lao as soon as possible and get him to start widespread promotion of elemental development.

"Is that all?" I asked, already halfway out the door. I need to get a good night's sleep today—tomorrow's the Solstice, and I'll need all my strength.

"I think you'll be interested in a battle involving a thousand dark spirits of various kinds," he said, and I quickly returned to his desk.

"Can you elaborate?"

It turns out that near a fairly large settlement of light spirits, dark spirits have been appearing more frequently. They were eliminated quickly at first, but their numbers kept growing. It became clear they were gathering forces for an attack. This is the first massive wave of spirits, but in the future, their numbers will be uncountable.

"I'm in!" How could I refuse? Otherwise, I'd have to search for dark spirits myself. And here, there'll be many of them, all four elements at once.

"Then come see me tomorrow, and I'll send you to the right place."

"Are you not going yourself?"

"No ancient spirits are expected," he shook his head. "Besides, the settlement is already protected by another relatively young ancient spirit."

"Alright," I said. "And 'relatively young' means a couple thousand years, right?"

*

My sudden appearance in the middle of the endless sands didn't surprise anyone much. Only for a second did I feel particularly strong attention, which quickly vanished. Most likely, the local settlement leader, that very "young" ancient spirit, glanced at me.

Looking around, I saw only a sea of sand, countless shades of yellow, orange, and brown. In the distance, an oasis was visible. On the other side stood a ten-meter-high wall, radiating energy far stronger than mine.

"Definitely created by an ancient spirit," I thought, starting to walk straight toward it. That's where the other spirits were heading too.

Most of the locals I encountered were cats... Yes, they were different—various colors, sizes, and breeds—but cats. I think I understood why no one was paying attention to me: cats, after all...

"Foolish creatures, their attack looks ridiculous to us," said a bipedal cat with extreme arrogance. Dress him in a white suit, and he'd be Baron Humbert von Gikkingen from the anime *The Cat Returns*. "I hope they can at least entertain me a little."

"They say there'll be thousands of them," another cat, more resembling a typical earthly feline, said fearfully, tucking his tail.

"There's no need to worry, my little friend," the Baron said condescendingly. "Kuro-sama won't let anything bad happen," he said, apparently referring to the ancient spirit here, Kuro.

"Just a moment ago, you were proudly mocking the enemies, and now you're relying on some Kuro?" I rolled my eyes. They must have noticed my attention, as they glanced at me briefly.

"No fur, just bare skin," the anthropomorphic cat said, scanning me from head to toe without lowering his voice. "Poor creature," he finished with genuine pity.

"Stay calm, he's just a talking cat! A arrogant talking cat," I thought, wanting to "pet" him once, but I wouldn't dwell on the words of strangers. Instead, I'd just glare at his back with a hateful look. Very "adult-like," Yo! Good job!

Alright, enough fooling around. Soon, I reached the wall. A large number of spirits had already gathered there, looking anxiously toward the horizon, beyond the wall. That's where, along with the approaching sandstorm, the dark spirits were advancing.

Another five minutes passed before I saw the first more defined silhouettes of the enemies. It became clear that the thousands-strong army was creating the storm with their feet, paws, or whatever else they had.

"Long-range attacks, ready!" a deep, somewhat purring voice echoed across the wall.

"I thought there'd be no command here," I was glad to be wrong. A good commander is always a plus.

It didn't take long for me to get a better look at the attackers. In the vanguard were uniform spirits resembling either trolls or ogres. These massive creatures had rows of sharp teeth that simply didn't fit in their mouths. It looked terrifying, especially the impulse they were creating.

Scanning the perimeter of the wall, I saw many of the feline spirits' paws trembling. Most likely, only a few of them had encountered dark spirits before. They'd grown accustomed to living under protection; it would be hard for them to get used to fighting. Yet, that's exactly what awaits them in the coming years.

"Not a single ancient spirit," I concluded after scanning with all my senses. There were higher-level spirits, but compared to the total number, their percentage wasn't that high. "An ancient spirit would've devoured them in one bite," I thought. Clearly, Kuro also understands that his protégés need to learn to fight.

"Fire!" the same voice shouted. From my index and middle fingers, a branching lightning bolt flew, instantly taking dozens of weaklings' lives. At this distance, I couldn't absorb their energy... But there were so many of them, I'd definitely have enough. So, until they reached the wall, I'd systematically reduce their numbers.

Our side's attacks lacked synchronization—everyone fought their own way—but that didn't stop them from hitting the enemies. Several minutes passed before the first spirits reached the wall. Their brains hadn't completely failed them; they realized they couldn't "pierce" the wall, so they started climbing up, becoming perfect targets. We were lucky there weren't many flying spirits, and I took them out first.

"Retreat," the command came just in time, as another couple of minutes and the enemies would've climbed the wall. The feline spirits immediately ran back on all paws. I also began to retreat slowly, killing the "lucky ones" who had climbed the wall first.

In the distance, I saw a straight line of more massive cats—likely the second line of defense. They looked more prepared, and besides, we'd already taken out about thirty percent of the dark spirits.

"Time for me to eat too," I thought, as it was the perfect moment—while most spirits were still beyond the wall—to kill those who were climbing. Activating my life energy and removing air resistance with Yo's power, I became like a sonic boom. A long sword grown from blood effortlessly took the lives of lower and mid-level spirits. Only higher-level ones were slightly more challenging.

Only now did I fully feel the difference between ordinary higher-level spirits and myself. After absorbing enough energy, I went behind the allies, who began looking at me with respect.

This continued for an hour. I'd go forward, using my abilities to the fullest, giving the cat spirits a breather, then return.

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Shortly after, the fire and air sources caught up with the water source, moving to the initial stage. Earth energy surged ahead, reaching the mid-level stage. Simply put, there were the most earth spirits here.

Toward the end of the battle, as we were finishing off the dark spirits, a massive black cat with horns on its head suddenly appeared on the battlefield. The ancient spirit's bristling fur and tense posture involuntarily made me clench my muscles. From its slight hiss, a thick beam of green energy shot far ahead.

"It seems another mrrr has appeared," Kuro said quietly before disappearing.

With its attack, Kuro left a long, wide clearing. The cats stood in a respectful pose for a couple more seconds. And I kept thinking about his words... Most likely, another dark ancient spirit had been watching our battle, which Kuro noticed. Fortunately, a strong enemy didn't appear—I'm not ready for that yet.

After a while, we finished off the last spirits. The cats began celebrating their victory, heading toward the oasis. I, however, decided to go home. There were still a couple of hours until the Solstice ended, but my "catch" was already good, and I was running on empty. Plus, there's still an ancient spirit roaming around here somewhere—I don't want to risk it unnecessarily.

Casting one last glance at the departing spirits, I thought that spending too much time near Gaia is starting to shift my boundaries of normality... Among the defenders, I saw a couple of beautiful humanoid female cats. I admit, my eyes often "scanned" their luscious bodies.

"It's xenophilia, it's not that bad! They're spirits! Driya's a spirit too!" I reassured myself.