Akira sat down and began his study of spirituality and spirits. It was deeply fascinating and he studied without a concern for time.
He was used to this from his past life where he attended university and also needed to learn for days.
Fortunately in this life he felt more intelligent and he grasped the contexts far more easier that in his past life.
Year after year he studied and consistently improved himself and also found a way back to the physical world through a complicated ritual to open a small rift in reality that immediately closes soon after.
Still he stayed and learned many more things.
For example he discovered that it was possible to divide water and control oxygen and hydrogen seperately through it required immense control and knowlege of airbending.
Another thing he found was awesome techniques where one can retain their youth through waterbending.
It required extreme control over his own cells and Akira definetly wasn't crazy enough to test this technique on himself.
He got a lot ideas with this for example dissapearing for a few decades and reappearing in the legend of Korra.
Oh he would have his fun messing with everyone.
This also changed his relationship to Katara.
Without them the next generation of Air nomads wouldn't be born and the storyline of Avatar Korra would spiral out of his control.
Tenzin is just that important.
So with a heavy heart he gave up on Katara now before he got a real crush on her.
He also found the technique Unalaq used in legend of Korra to purify or corrupt spirits.
All in all ot was a very rewarding trip to the spirit world.
After he had learned everything he needed and learnt to control oxygen and hydrogen he was finished with everything he wanted to learn.
He also copied the techniques down and put them inside his inventory just to be on the safe side.
Aditionally he also searched for ancient or forgotten bending techniques and copied them down from all elements...well besides firebending since that section was destroyed.
In the spirit world propably about 20 years had passed but he didn't age a day.
Very convinient.
"Thank you for everything and your hospitality all this time Wan Shi Tong but now it is time to leave" Akira said.
"You more than earned your place here. This chemestry and physical knowlege you thaught me is revolutionary. I hope you visit me again some time" Wan Shi Tong said.
"I will, goodbye Wan" Akira said and walked out of the library for the first time in twenty years.
Outside he set up the ritual, careful not to mess anything up and checking it thrice for any mistakes.
He then fueled the ritual circle with his chi and he immediately felt the immense drain on his chi reserves but just before his reserves were empty it stopped and a blue glowing rift opened in front of him.
Relieved he entered it and reappeared somewhere he had never been before.
It looked like a strange forest but he could definetly feel that he was outside the spirit world.
The rift behind him closed immediately after he left.
"Where the fucking hell am I?" Akira asked himself and looked around.
After walking around for a while he found a street and followed it to a nearby village.
"Excuse me, where am I here?" Akira asked a villager.
"Oh you are at the Hato village in the earth kingdom" the villager said "are you a wanderer?"
"Yes, I lost my way. Can you point me the location on the map?" Akira asked and unrolled a map of the earth nation.
It should be somewhere here" he said and pointed to a location south of the Si Won dessert.
"Thank you" Akira said and gave the man a gold coin before he walked away.
"Alright, Toph's home is in Gaolin, if everything went as expected then they should show up there sooner or later" Akira mumbled to himself "I just hope I didn't change too much of the timeline"
Akira then walked for a few days till he reached Gaolin city.
After he arrived he searched for Aang Sokka and Katara.
He also reseached when the next earth rumble tournament .
It seems like he was to early as the tournament would only start in four days from now.
He just hoped team Avatar would be here by then to meet Toph.
With nothing to do he searched for a tavern to spend the night and practice his new techniques.
For the next days he did nothing more than sleep, eat, train and search for team Avatar.
After two days he finally found them on a stand where Sokka pondered if he should by a beautiful green bag or not.
"Finally, you are here!" Akira shouted and hugged Katara...I mean who else?
Noir also jumped into his arms in the form of a cat and licked his hand.
"Yeah, also nice to see you again Noir" Akira said and petted his little spirit panther.
"Where were you this whole time, we were worried sick about you!" Katara asked him "Aang even seached for days in the spirit world only to find no trace of you"
"Ah sorry about that. I was indeed kidnapped by a malvolent spirit but I'm fine" Akira assured them.
"How was it in the spirit world?" Aang asked curiously.
"It was certainly interesting but also very dangerous. I barely escaped some dark spirits" Akira said changing the topic "Anyways you are seaching for an earthbending genius right? I have a great idea how we could find a suitable earthbending teacher for Aang"
He then showed them a poster of the earth rumble tournament.
"There the best earthbenders of this region will fight against each other" Akira said.
"Woah, a real earthbending tournament... let's go!" Sokka grabbed the paper and marched forward.
"It's tomorrow Sokka, not today" Akira said.
Sokka froze in his movements and turned around.
"Is it? Oh then let's search for a place to stay the night" he said ankwardly and scratched the back of his head.
"I know a good tavern come on" Akira said and mentioned them to follow him all while he was bombarded with questions about the spirit world.
The next day Sokka was extremly excited about the tournament and wouldn't stop talking about it.
They soon entered the arena afzer paying the entrance fee and Sokka dragged them to the seats in the first row.
Akira watched in interest as the referee appeared with a short but impressive demonstration of earthbending.
He knew that he was damn powerful but he was a bit envious...Earth,metal and especialy lava bending later on are absolutely nuts.
"Urgh, this will propably be a tournament where some muscular guys throw rocks at each other right?" Katara asked annoyed.
"I hope so, that's what I paid for" Sokka said and cheered loudly.
Akira just shrugged his shoulders and joined him in cheering.
What? He should also be allowed to have a bit of fun.
"Urg...boys" Katara groaned seeing them fool around.
Just then the referee was finished with his speech and the first match started.
That was when Akira spotted a betting stand and he smirked.
"I'll be right back" Akira said and went to the betting stand.