The Retired Hero is an Extra

Feeling the wind cut sharply at his skin and the wood-elemental clothes drawing blood, Jash gritted his teeth to the point of smashing them.

'Damn it! I must've gone crazy to try this brutal method!' He cursed himself inwardly for being impatient.

It was not like he only had one day to achieve everything, and the same were the thoughts of the observing few, having been already shocked by his craziness with the water element.

Though they were used to all kinds of sights and easily dismissed Jash's actions as his talent, they really had a hard time accepting the current situation.

Should we pull him out?" asked a taciturn voice, though a hint of surprise lingered.

Before the person next to him could even respond, a cold, almost chilling, voice entered their ears, "Not allowed."

The two didn't dare respond, shuddering under the voice of their enigmatic supervisor.

They might have harbored thoughts of pulling Jash out forcefully before he triggered the safety mechanism, but after being stopped, they wouldn't dare even if they were dead!

Unaware of being noticed by another strong person behind-the-scenes, Jash tasted the metallic blood in his mouth from his bleeding lips.

'This is my own decision! I must persevere!' He recited inside his mind, trying to stay calm.

However, his situation truly wasn't all that good.

His body was covered in wounds from the wind current, with the wood-elemental clothing sliced in different places.

Yet it was trying to shield him and at the same time heal his injuries, letting the wood element sink inside his body alongside the infested wind-element.

Although risky, this was the only method Jash could come up with to awaken their mutated element with wind as the base element.

Not much reason behind his choice, just that he felt it was better to awaken wind for its versatility and wood for its healing factor.

That's why he even chose such a set of wood-elemental clothing that really focused on healing and nourishing vitality only.

'Ugh! The pain is really repulsive!' Jash thought with a self-mocking smile despite his bleeding lips and fresh cut on his face.

At this point, he didn't have any extensive reaction to pain as if it were second nature to him and it was his old companion, like his little lover.

Yet his concentration had never left the elemental mana that pervaded his body, trying to grasp just a tiny bit of its strand and connect it to his mana core.

With his multi-elemental affinity, it wouldn't be hard to awaken any element, so he was pretty sure it would work.

Truly, he didn't have to wait long as a strand of the lightest green mixed with denser shades of green came into his senses.

For one, he could feel it inside his body rather than it directly acting upon the intended parts.

And as he could faintly manipulate and ascertain his will, his lips unconsciously curled upwards despite the increasing red.

'Soon!' He exclaimed inwardly, sensing the increase in the number of strands he found inside his body resembling the first one.

However, each strand was unique, with its own sense of presence, as if they were all different mutated elements resulting from Jash's crazy attempt.

No one would usually make such a gamble, but then again, Jash was a bit crazy, even in his previous life, so it matched well with him.

'Now, which one do I connect?' Stay connected through m-v l|e'm,p| y- r

The question bothered him to no extent as it would directly impact what kind of element he would gain.

Although he was sure to be able to use any mutated element to a good extent and easily be able to control it, a sense of nervousness still washed over him.

In the end, he didn't have to wait for long before the first strand completely submitted to him, directly shooting towards the mana core.

Cold sweat covered his bloody face as something beyond his expectations happened at the critical juncture, taking him by surprise.

'Thankfully, I am not looking for more mutate elements,' he smiled bitterly, fully aware of his barbaric and spartan methods, which wouldn't bode him well.

In the next second, a flash of information entered his mind as the complex elemental mana entered his mana core and resonated with it.

It halted the dreadful phenomena around him, giving him time to breathe before the environment around him subtly changed.

It was filled with trees, shrubs, greens—made of wind—that swayed alongside the moving wind.

With closed eyes in full concentration, there was zero chance for Jash to see it, being busy sorting around the flash of inspiration and information in his mind.

Not even aware of himself, the new element surrounded his body.

A light, flowing current resembling the essence of trees and the winds, flowing like a gentle breeze yet symbolizing strength and durability like that of wood.

The element seemed to represent the harmony between the grounded strength of trees and the fluid, dynamic nature of air.

It was a true embodiment of both stability and freedom.

However, that wasn't all it could do!

Jash had to himself explore the element and discover the manifold uses it could have.

But his body was currently floating a little with the help of the wind element that was the base of his new element which he used relatively well.

Simple shapes of birds with varying green colors appeared floating around him, taking on the shapes of giant monsters to the smallest of insects.

In the next second, a light-green hue covered his body, slowly healing his wounds and similarly generating the lost blood deep inside his body.

It was a double-healing, more akin to regeneration than the usual method of using one's own lifespan to accelerate the healing of wounds employed by most healers and doctors.

Unlike wood-elementals or water-elementals, who were limited to their elemental mana, his healing power originated from the air around him as well as the wood-element.

It was a two-in-one comprehensive healing that would make one envy such a skill.

Alas, the pain and reward were really in ratio as if saying high-risk high-reward came true.

At that final moment, Jash came to himself and only a raspy cough echoed from within.

"What... the?"

He couldn't help but break his speech, his slightly dry chapped lips cracking at his own voice.

He had just felt the information of his new element and its basic understanding flash by his mind and by the time he could grasp it, he felt he lost a huge opportunity.

'If only I knew!'

Jash lamented his lack of knowledge or he would've held true to his genius aspect and learned as much as he could infer from the scrambled knowledge.

It didn't come from his past life or present life, but directly bestowed for unlocking this element for the first time in the whole world.

Centuries back, such occurrences were common but even millennials had passed, so it was too hard for one to awaken new elements.

"Ziva also had this when she awakened," he sighed, not anticipating he would have such a bout of new elements.

He knew about her case solely because it was mentioned in passing in the novel, not because she told him or he heard of it from anyone.

As it was a rare occurrence, it naturally invited unwanted problems, so anyone would want to hide it, masking the knowledge of Ziva's element back then.

'Her family really put in some effort,' he smiled bitterly, knowing his own situation was somewhat better.

'But what do I call it?' he wondered in intrigue.