Melia stood in the grassy clearing behind her house with three bolts in front of her, crackling in the crisp October air.

It felt like a lifetime ago that she had first summoned two elementals at once. And less than a year after that, she had made it a point to practice the ability to hold three at a time, honing her natural tripling ability so she could rise beyond what most cared to do.

Now, she was planning to go one further.

She had researched this topic before, and refreshed her knowledge on it in the past couple days. All the literature agreed that, while there was nothing physically stopping someone from summoning more than three elementals at a time, it was exceedingly difficult, with only a handful of people coming close to success let alone achieving it. And even disregarding the initial summoning, it was entirely unheard of for someone to successfully maintain four for more than a second or two. It was simply too taxing for a single mind to exert control over so many concentrated bundles of elemental energy at once.

But Melia had always been special, both in regards to her abilities with the ether staff, and with the flow of ether itself. She could distinguish ether gems by rank before she was old enough to understand the concept. Her burst aura was self-sustaining, rather than having a limited reserve, and Burst End was not her talent art. She could manipulate twelve panels of Reflection when the average was six and the bell curve topped at ten. And she had already pulled off impossible feats out of pure rage - summoning her staff from great distances, firing Mind Blast with no preparation, and sending ice elementals through the air at far more than the walking pace that was supposed to be their limit. She was confident that she could continue to stretch her limits beyond what anyone else had tried.

She held her staff so its head was in the middle of the three bolts, and focused. The familiar feeling of static crackled under her fingers. Her expectation was that she would revert to her original speed of twenty seconds per bolt when trying to summon a fourth, until she had mastered it.

It was immediately evident that the fourth would be much more difficult a task than the third had been. When she first tried a third, the existing two only became a bit more erratic, not requiring much extra effort to keep aloft while the summoning was in progress. But here, the existing three bolts began to wander and droop rather drastically, and she had to divert her attention to keep them stable, losing her focus in creating the fourth. Maintaining any progress on the new one without losing any of the existing ones became the challenge.

Not for the first time, she wondered if she had put this off too long, that perhaps she should have tried years ago while she was still actively training, rather than waiting until a few months into a comparatively sedate lifestyle. But given the nature of the new challenge, she didn't think it would have mattered that much, and she had needed all the practice with her other arts more than just a fourth elemental. Even one less month of experience with Mind Blast could have made her adventure a failure.

The clouds overhead darkened, and there might have been a rumbling in the distance. The rare October thunderstorm was moving in, likely the last one of the year. She had planned the day knowing this, so if she failed early on she could try again with greater inspiration from the weather. It was unfortunate that it had taken this long for one to find a convenient place in her schedule; she'd had the idea for a few months now, but things had not lined up until today, and didn't want her first try to be without it.

It took five minutes before she could conclusively say she achieved something - she forced an existing bolt back to be level with the others without immediately losing all charge in her staff.

It is cast. She smirked in satisfaction. All I must do is repeat this progress, and success is inevitable.

Slowly but surely, Melia continued to build the charge in her staff without losing control of her three existing bolts. It was arduously slow progress, but progress nevertheless. The bolts danced, the static built, and the ether polarized. She could almost feel a pressure against the universe as she forced her desire across it.

Finally, after a total of twenty-three minutes, she felt the charge in her staff rapidly intensify. She looked up and gave a last mental push.

The energy released, forming a bolt that sat in the head of the staff. The other three bolts rested in the air, unmoving. She had done it.

Melia couldn't stop herself from grinning as she swung the staff through the air, the fourth bolt remaining fixed within.

Only one thing left to do.

She mentally plucked the fourth bolt out of the staff and into the air proper. It took some juggling, with none of them remaining still for more than a second, but all four remained aloft. It had been tiring to focus on summoning for such an unbroken stretch, so to concentrate on something else was a relief. After three or four minutes, she had honed her focus enough that they were all reasonably stable - the initial summoning of the fourth bolt was far harder than maintaining it.

She clapped her hands twice, triggering the camera on a tripod set up a short distance away, to capture proof of her success.

Perhaps I shall campaign for this to be how I am remembered. Not for being a half-blooded ruler, not for being the last empress, not for saving the world - but for being the first quadrupler of elementals in history.

Just for fun, she began to focus once more. Two bolts immediately plummeted halfway to the ground before she broke off the attempt and mentally caught them.

It is no surprise I cannot immediately begin the challenge of a fifth. One step at a time.

Melia dismissed all the bolts, rested for a few minutes to regain her mental energy, and began anew. One, two, three, and now four. Repeat until the fourth could be summoned in less than a minute, then begin doing so with elementals other than bolts. Once everything reached the same pace, it would be no problem to accelerate from there. In time, the fourth would be as quick and natural as the third currently was.

And from there, where would she stop? Five, six, seven? She was already beyond where any had tread, but how far could she continue? What were the limits of her abilities, and how did they compare with the limits of the world?

Perhaps it is too early to determine the feasibility, but my current goal is six. Perfect resonance; equal harmony; one for each of my friends. But should I reach that point, I have no intention of stopping. I aim to not simply be the best ever known, but to be the best ever knowable. To be known for not my place in society, but for having more talent and skill than any, past, present, or future.

I shall impress my will upon the universe, and hear no cries for mercy.