EG Book 7 Chapter 15 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

Sorry, meant to post this yesterday, but we were getting ready for my oldest’s 10th birthday. Enjoy!

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

Two hours of puzzles and headaches had me sitting on a lounge cushion with my head on my hands. “What have you been up to?” Jamila asked, crouching next to me.

“Gathering Geist,” I whispered, then looked her over. “You?”

“Body weight calisthenics under Knight Kaminski’s direction,” she said, gesturing to the sweat plastered clothes she had on, “and the technique that makes you feel like you are ten times heavier than you are. She had us use Aether to strengthen our muscles the entire time, which is the only reason that I can still stand up.”

“May I?” I asked. At her nod, I swept my Aether through her, and felt a resonance from almost all of her. “You are very close to advancing.”

“I took one of the pills you bartered for,” she said with a cute blush, “and it smoothed out and enhanced my center and meridians. Now I only have to finish on my muscles and a few bones that I did not get right during Threshold.”

“Good,” I said. “I’m glad you’re getting stronger, so you’ll be able to heal better.”

“Yup,” she said, smiling brightly, “I have many questions that I need to ask Counselor (Name) about healing techniques. I do not have any for the Core level.”

“Great,” I said, pulling her into a hug.

“I should go get cleaned up,” she said, her voice muffled from where her mouth was near my robe.

I released her, and we both stood up. I saw Lilianna and Milenna stagger through the doorway into the common room they shared, Xiao was leaning on his sheathed sword as a cane, and Lea was helping Ming stand as they limped through the main door.

“Knight Aiden, bring your team out here, please,” Knight Kaminski’s voice echoed in the room.

“I will get Jon,” Bridget said.

I helped Vaya stand from where she was laying across two cushions. “This trip is going to be as bad as the one here, isn’t it?” Vaya asked.

“Hey, contraction,” I laughed, and she shook her head. “Yeah, probably. I’ll take it, though, if it keeps us alive in the war.”

“Me too,” she whispered, and then we strolled arm in arm out the door. I let her go through first, as we didn’t fit side-by-side.

Outside, we found Knight Kaminski talking quietly with Samantha, walking her through the steps of the Eight-by-Eight Gathering Technique. She was trying to finish the third set, but was messing up the twenty-third movement, which was an awkward single leg crouch with a sweeping motion of the left hand while the right hand and right leg were pushed straight out behind you. The angle between the left sweep and right leg had to be just over one hundred degrees, but the natural motion was to make it about ninety instead. It took me quite a few tries to get that through my thick skull.

“Knight Aiden,” Knight Kaminski said, then she frowned. “Hmm, you are more drained than I expected.”

“Uh, I found a Geist gathering technique from the Legacy, and taught it to Vaya and Bridget,” I told her.

“Please teach it to me,” she said.

“Me too,” Jon said brightly, stepping up next to me with a spring in his step. “That nap was great, thanks Aiden.” His deliberately chipper attitude made me glare at him. His grin grew wider, and then he yelped.

“Aiden is not the only one with a headache,” Bridget growled, and mimed pinching him again.

“Sorry,” he told me.

“Now that that is over,” Knight Kaminski said, “Aiden.”

I quickly demonstrated the circuit and spiral design, and the need for mental stimulation.

“It takes a lot out of you, and it is hard to think while using it,” Vaya added. “So we have been using puzzles.”

“I really like the Sudoku game,” Bridge said.

“You are unable to continue the training from before, which was my plan,” Knight Kaminski said. “Instead, I will work with each of you individually on a single technique. Knight Aiden, you are first. Vaya, assist Samantha in her attempts.”

“Yes, Knight Kaminski,” Vaya said. “Bridget, come with me and demonstrate please,”

Vaya and Bridget broke off and walked over to Sam, who had just stumbled on the same movement as before. Jon walked to the end of the Skysurfer and watched Sia and Zimnodlot as they flew in front of us.

“Your Dancing Northern Wind Technique should allow you to continuously run on the Air, and with some advancement to fly directly with wind currents,” Knight Kaminski said.

“Yes, ma’am,” I responded. “But I have only used it for a few steps at a time.”

“Good, then you will practice. Run two hundred laps of the Skysurfer. For each time you have to step on it, add ten laps. I nodded, then glanced down. “Yes, even the steps to get off the Skysurfer the first time,” she added with a smirk.

“Okay,” I said, then leapt off the side, clearing the two meters easily. As I started to come down, I formed an Air platform under my left foot, then pushed off. I circulated my Aether in the way the technique had taught me, creating a pulling force in front of my legs and a pushing force behind while solidifying the Air underneath my feet. I ran forward, nearly jumping off each platform to clear two to three meters with a single step. It’ll take me less than twenty steps to circle the Skysurfer, I thought, I can do this easily.

Each step increased the Aether cost, though. Even my prodigious reserves started to drain as I worked on my third lap. I glanced at the Skysurfer and saw Jon standing on a chunk of Ice. He levitated for a second, sliding backwards towards the Portable Home, then dropped down. Knight Kaminski spoke to him quietly, her hands gesturing as she described something. Vaya and Bridget were still working with Sam, leaving me alone in the air around the flying surfboard.

“You are not a bird,” Sia told me, flying up next to me.

“Nope,” I said, my next step vaulting me forward almost four meters as I tried to outmuscle my problem.

“Then why are you in the sky without something to stand on?” Sia asked.

“My Dancing Northern Wind Technique should let me run indefinitely at this stage,” I said, “and Knight Kaminski wants me to figure it out.” Another platform, a turning jump as I cleared the front of the Skysurfer. “At this rate, though, I’ll run out of Aether before I can complete ten laps. I don’t know why this is getting harder with each step!”

Sia increased in size and flew in front of me. I landed on his back, then jumped off to create another Air platform. The cost had dropped to be negligible again. “I don’t get it!” I screamed.

“That counts! Ten extra laps!” Knight Kaminski called out to me. “Keep going, you can figure it out.”

I grumbled under my breath, then focused more on what I was doing with each step. Okay, runes go in front, behind, and below my feet. The platforms are created just before I step down. Can I delay it slightly? Putting less lag in there should reduce Aether usage a little bit, I thought. I tried it on the next step, only to have the Air platform break when my foot hit it.

I created another, much larger, one to land on, and caught myself with a huff of expelled breath. I stood up and winced at the drain that continuous contact was causing. “Well, I guess that’s why I can’t just do what Jon is,” I grumbled. I hopped up, this time giving the requisite amount of time for the platform to form. “Only a few milliseconds, but still, grr.”

I continued on for another lap, trying to see what was going on. Where is the Aether going? I thought, then looked closely at my feet, taking short steps to get a better view. After five steps, my eyes widened. There’s a connection to the previous steps! Of course, that’s how I can use the technique to create the mist clones. Ooh, I should use Mist Aether to do that! I sent a burst of Aether into the barely felt connection, and a human-shaped body of mist appeared at the previous step.

I laughed out loud, then, on my next step, I cut the connection. I had to consciously break it with every step, which kept the Aether consumption down. Wow, I’m taking in more Aether than I’m expending now, I thought. The distraction let a few connections build, and I had to sever them with a flare of my will. I noticed that a tiny bit of Geist was being spent with each cut, giving me a different limiter for my technique.

Huh, there’s got to be a different way of using this, I thought, or I’m going to run out of Geist before I can finish the next hundred sixty laps. Maybe only cutting it every fourth step? I shrugged, keeping my steps long to reduce the number of platforms I had to create. I let the Aether cost build up, then sliced the lines reaching to my previous steps.

A quick calculation let me know that was slightly more efficient on Geist, and kept my Aether consumption to just below my replenishment rate. Still wasn’t sustainable for hours on end, though, so I tried six steps. This made it so I was losing Aether slowly, but I figured I’d still run out of Geist first. At eight steps, though, the Aether drain was significant enough that I’d probably run out of Aether first.

I ran four laps with that pattern. Okay, get used to this, and try to set up a gathering technique, I thought. I wish there was a way of gathering Geist from around us everywhere, but only very specific locations create it. Otherwise, it’s only what I can make myself. I guess that’s why the technique I picked is good, it increases the pool of Geist I have.

Twenty laps in, and I finally had enough of a grasp of the intricacies of the techniques to set up a single Spiral Gathering Technique. I didn’t try to make it perfect, just enough that my Aether gathering rate got closer to my Aether channeling rate. The three gathering meridians on my back, one of the many ways that I was unique in Craesti, pulsed with Aether as I pulled it in, only to have it distributed by my leg, skin, and leg bone meridians. I didn’t quite reach equilibrium, but my Aether storage was high enough that I wouldn’t run out before I finished the two hundred and ten laps.

I ran another fifty laps, each circuit a weird extended rectangle due to the Skysurfer’s movement, just letting myself get into the zone. Finally, everything felt automatic enough that I could examine the runic structure of Dancing Northern Wind, to see if I could figure out where the connection was being created and how to stop it.

It took another ten laps, but I finally decided to remove a series of runes that wrapped around my ankles, and the connections stopped forming. “YES!” I screamed in exultation, then sped up, blazing through the sky. “I found it! Why isn’t this just shown in the base technique? I mean, at this drain, I could have run in the air forever at Circulation, instead of now.” I grumbled at the last part.

“For you,” Knight Kaminski said, running along beside me. I could see a large pillar of Aether still connecting her to the Skysurfer, but I had to shake off my fascination to focus on her. “Most people cannot regenerate anywhere near what you can just by existing, so the technique focuses on creating options instead of efficiency. Have you been using the distraction aspects of Dancing Northern Wind, or have you just been using it as a way to increase your speed?”

“Uh,” I said, “just speed, ma’am.”

“And have there been times when having a distraction would have been helpful?”

I thought back to both fights against the giant Crocodile, then other fights where it could easily have helped. “Yeah,” I said with a defeated sigh.

“Then you need to practice creating and utilizing the mist clone aspects of your technique,” she said. “Finish your laps, and then we will focus on that. You can worry about true flight later. Running on air is enough to save you in case you go overboard, and will let you fight if any Beasts try to make us a meal. Go.” She gestured to the side.

I nodded, then took off, falling back into the zone with my new technique and letting the next twenty minutes or so fly by. Every step, I tweaked the rune placement a tiny bit, the removal of the connection runes changing the overall flow enough that I needed to optimize it a bit. Finally, I completed the two hundred and tenth lap, then guided my steps to land on the Skysurfer next to Knight Kaminski.

I dropped to my knees, panting, and shook my head. That took more out of me than I thought it did, I thought, while waiting for her to finish instructing Bridget on an aspect of her movement technique.

“You need to be able to focus all of your movement,” Knight Kaminski told Bridget. “You are utilizing the straight line speed of Arrows Flight well, but you should be able to put all of your momentum into a single strike as well.”

“I am sorry, Knight Kaminski,” Bridget said, shrugging with her machetes in her hand, “I probably should have picked a different technique. I have not been able to make it work with these. It really wants a spear or a lance.”

“Then adapt it slightly,” Knight Kaminski said. “Try to change the attack into a slash instead of a stab. Show me the runes again, and let us see if we can figure this out.”

Bridget nodded, then two dozen runes appeared in front of her. They glittered purple, made out of Ice Aether. “May I?” I asked, and Bridget nodded. I looked over them, but only understood half of it.

“These here,” Knight Kaminski said, and a ribbon of light blue Air Aether circled five runes in the latter two-thirds of the sequence. “I believe these are what controls the final impact.”

“Those three are from Aether Blast,” I said, pointing at the first three of what she indicated. “Maybe change them for Aether Slash?”

Bridget nodded, “I can try that.” She stepped back twice, then took three steps forward. Her third step blurred, clearing the four and a half meters to the back of the Skysurfer in an instant. Her right machete swung down, and a wave of Air and Ice Aether exploded out of it. The wave wasn’t very coherent, though, and dissipated after only a meter or so of travel.

“That was good,” Knight Kaminski said, “much better than the last few attempts. Now, how can you adjust it?”

“Well, instead of using Aether Slash, I can base it on my Air Blades technique? I’d have to replace all five runes with seven others, but that should be doable,” Bridget said, then projected the technique with her proposed insertion.

“This one will interfere with the rest of the technique,” Knight Kaminski said, highlighting the second to last, “and you should be able to leave it out.”

“I will try,” Bridget said. She focused for a few seconds, then streaked forward. The wave off the end of her technique was completely unstable, and detonated almost as soon as it appeared.

Knight Kaminski vanished, appearing in front of Bridget and shielding her from the blast. “Maybe not,” she said.

We spent the next thirty minutes working on Bridget’s technique. Jon was sliding around on his Ice sheet, muttering to himself and adapting it every few minutes, while Vaya danced in circles near the door to the Portable Home. Her form seemed to blur, waving about like grass in the wind, and Knight Kaminski would occasionally throw a very weak Aether Blast or Slash at her. Vaya swayed out of the way of the attacks, her movement seemingly random but still taking her out of danger into safety.

“We’re all working on different aspects of movement,” I commented when Knight Kaminski turned to give me the majority of her attention.

“Correct,” she said. “Vaya’s technique is exceptional at close combat, Jon’s will let him take multiple people flying for distance but not speed, Bridget’s technique lets her close into a fight quickly with a strong opening attack, and yours allows for rapid movement with a distraction factor, allowing you to get away from stronger opponents. You could also use it to close and fight them, without the initial attack that Bridget’s brings. Now, let us focus on your mist clone.”

I nodded, and we went to work.