Augmented Aspects: Chapter 109 Hidden Energies (Patreon)

Chapter 109

Hidden Energies

Focus.

My third eye is amazing, when it is open, I can focus down to the smallest particles of people and even see the way blood, mana, and energy flow differently in the body. Sadly yes, there are three different flows that go within the body. Blood of course goes in the veins and arteries, while magic flows from the core and to the meridians. Energy, oddly enough, is one of the newest pieces of knowledge that I never knew existed in the game.

Energy seems to have overlap with both mana and blood flow but is entirely independent of the two. I can artificially increase the flow of energy in a certain place by swelling the area with fresh pumping blood, and mana, but that doesn’t seem to fully describe its true purpose. Energy is not dependent on veins or a means of transfer, it can congregate in a particular area, or spread rapidly throughout a given body. Honestly, I am having a hard time comprehending such a rare phenomenon, especially as this is my first time being able to adequately observe its actions.

“Everything okay?” Mallory asks.

“What, oh, yeah. Why do you ask?” Mallory’s words pull me from my deep focus of trying to cleanse out the rest of the Blight from this portion of the great tree Yggdraspirit. I think using energy, or at least infusing energy with the combative powers of antibodies might be a way to clear the Blight from the tree permanently, but I will need more time. That of course is when I get distracted by my charming assistant.

“Well, you seemed to have been preoccupied, but in a good way, as your tongue was sticking out and on your top right lip, indicating that you were close to a breakthrough.” Mallory notes.

“What? I don’t do that, also, assuming I did do something so childish, and you knew I was close to a breakthrough, why would you stop me?” I ask, trying to see if she is just messing with me.

“One second, you got a little bit of drool right here.” Mallory states, bending forward and wiping the upper right portion of my lip. Sadly, at her touch I can see that she was in fact correct as apparently either I put my tongue there, or a wet caterpillar happened to have rested there. Eww, gross, on second thought I hope it was my tongue, versus a random slime monster that rests on lips.

Shaking my head to get rid of that thought, Mallory chuckles.

“Everything okay?”

“What? Yeah, I just found out that there is a new third form of energy in bodies, I am calling it energy for now. But it is entirely different than the circulation of blood or mana, but blood and mana can dictate the flow of this energy.”

“You mean qi? You finally found it?” Mallory asks.

“What? No, just an unknown form of energy.”

“Qi.” Mallory states with an emphatic head nod.

At that, I sigh as I realize I might have been trying to understand too much. Or giving this new energy more importance than I had previously imagined. Hearing that, I let out the exciting ball of tension I had been building up and let it out, before replying.

“Yeah, I guess we could call it that.” I state, trying not to let the dejection I was feeling swell up in my words.

“No, this is amazing. People have been theorizing that it has existed for years, and now you are able to say that you can see it. At the very least, this means you can either create a new class devoted to this art. Or, better yet, help others unlock their inner chi and become cultivators.” Mallory states the last part with a bit of an indulgent tone.

“Why would I care about cultivators?” I ask, trying to understand this whole train of thought.

Giggling.

“My dear girl, please don’t tell me that being in that body has taken away all of your desires. Surely the thought of seeing exquisitely toned men with rippling ten packs and muscles galore with their shirts off would do something for you. Especially knowing that every one of them would come to you asking you for advice on how to cultivate the innate energy in their bodies.” Mallory states.

I am about to deny this, to say that such a class does not exist in this world, nor should it exist, but I was fortunately stopped by the system who wished to tell me that such a thing was indeed possible.

New Skill Gained: Qi Sight has reached level 1.

Skill Qi Sight is a Perception X2, Intelligence, and Willpower X2 skill.

At the sight of the message, I realize I am holding up my finger to make a counter argument, but quickly try to drop my finger in protest. As I might give away a bit more in my face, as Mallory begins to smile brightly.

“Oh, you did find something, is it a new class? Some type of Cultivation Evaluator?”

“What? No.” I say, a bit too defensively.

With that Mallory twists her body around me, coiling like a snake, though I know her intentions are far better than that. No, wait, her goals if I understand them are to use me to get insanely fit men to come and take off their clothes in front of her, all so I could then evaluate them for talent. Then realizing that, I decided to call her out on this.

“Wait, you want me to get this Cultivator Evaluator class so I can be your excuse for young fit me to partially undress in your presence, before being seen by me?” I pose.

“But of course.” Mallory states, not the least bit of humility in her words. “Think about it, they could have weapons on them. Also, if they aren’t strong or fit enough, they might not be worth your time. No, I would do this for you.”

“You mean for you.”

“For the two of us. Tell me, have you even thought about what a unique class a Cultivation Evaluator would be?”

“Honestly, no.”

“Do, just think about what you can do now that you can see Qi flowing through people’s bodies. New skills would be available, new powers of magic could be unleashed through the joining of these different energies, of both mana and qi.” Mallory states.

Then thinking about that direction, somehow being able to weave the different powers of energy that freely flows about to body with mana could easily have a multiplicative effect on the results of mana. Then I remembered all those action movies that my ex used to make me watch, the ones where they would call forth the power of qi within their bodies and fight off hundreds of bandits. At that moment, when I was thinking of the possibilities of the people having access to this new power, I saw a new system message.

New Class Available: Qi Fusion Fighter (Unique): You have unlocked the ability to pursue the new unique class Fusion Fighter, which combines forces within the body to unlock devastating attacks, and movement-based skills.

The thought of being a QiFF made me want to vomit. At first, I did not want to fight, also the name was ridiculous, but I quickly realized what Mallory was doing.

“Wait, are you trying to get me to come up with a new class that I would almost have to take based on my imagination and understanding of this new realm of exploration that the game is clearly trying to instill in the world.” I ask, feeling somewhat taken advantage of by her actions.

“Oh, come on. It was one of the things that was promised to everyone. The only problem was that the ancient masters that had the powers were too selective, and never chose anyone to be a disciple. Kind of like getting accepted to Arcanarus University. Then people ended up getting annoyed with them and thus regressors killed them all once they got a modicum of power.” Mallory stated, but quickly caught herself as she realized something. “Wait, so you got it? A Cultivation Master?”

“What, no. I got the option to choose the QiFF class.” I state.

At that Mallory paused and held up a finger to stop me. “What did you just say the name of the class was?”

“The official name was Qi Fusion Fighter, but I shortened it to QiFF.” I noted.

At that Mallory dropped her finger and tilted her head to the side, before regaining her composure.

“First your ability to shorten names has herby been revoked.” Mallory began, but then went about asking, “how did you get to the image of a Qi Fusion Fighter? That has nothing for you.”

“I know, but you mentioned the Qi thing, then I remembered Bob’s stupid movies where one person would get angry and have a cloud of glowing stink around him and fight off hundreds of people to save the farmer’s daughter from bandits.” I noted, trying to summarize my albeit little knowledge of samurai movies.

“First, that glowing stink was their battle aura being made manifest. Second, did they or didn’t they have their shirts off, and let their muscles ripple in the sun?”

“I don’t remember any muscles, or scenes without shirts?” I state, trying to remember if there were any cases of such a movie.

“Then you were clearly robbed of what the genre evolved into. Let me guess the movies you watched were all in black and white as well?”

“Yeah.”

At that Mallory shook her head. “No wonder you didn’t like it, you had to see the good movies, ones where the heroes heaving chest showed his true tension and desire for revenge.”

“You are a hornball.” I state.

“And you are a prude. Though given your current condition that is fine for now, but you really will need to stop this in about five or so years.” Mallory stated.

At that, I realized that I really didn’t have many feelings of attraction towards other people. Oh, I was attracted to Mallory, mainly due to her overwhelming power, but that was different. I knew that she was pretty, but I still didn’t have any form of physical want to be with her. At that, I let my mind wander a bit.

“You are realizing the game has mental blockers in place to keep you and the game itself from getting into trouble due to acting on physical attractions?” Mallory noted.

I pause, but then realize she is in fact correct. “Yeah.”

At that Mallory nods in understanding. “Don’t worry, it isn’t much of a block, basically the game just makes it so your body doesn’t produce any hormones that would be associated with attraction. Thus, you can look at people with a fair and unbiased perspective now, and not be drawn in by your body’s own desires.”

At that, I feel somewhat better. I thought I was kind of weird for not being attracted to anyone all this time, but to realize it was a safety mechanism placed by the game made me feel a bit better. Then my mind realized the next part of the equation, the fact that if the game can alter us to such degrees, then we can also alter the world we are in, if we exert our will on it hard enough.

I pause at that, almost expecting a skill to show up, something telling me that I can alter the world’s consciousness. If there is such a skill, I figure that the game would not go about showing that such a skill exists, instead letting me sit back and try to deduce things on my own.

With this new train of thought, I realize that the only reason I got the skill Qi Sight, was because I realized that it should exist, thanks to Mallory. Then at her behest I tried to think of a new class and got hosed on the option, thanks to how my mind switched focus at the last moment.

Realizing that I wanted to give this new thought process a push, I decided to try to create a second class related to Qi, not that I wanted the class, but I wanted to know first that I could influence the game world in such a way, and second that I saw some descriptions of skills that were available to the Qi fighter, and figured that knowing about such skills would allow me to increase my sorely lacking physical Attributes. As I assumed skills related to Qi use and cultivation would have to be related to physical enhancements.

With a focus of will, I turn my thoughts inward and begin trying to imagine the type of class that Mallory noted. This would be an enigmatic hermit, or some crazy sage that would be sought out by the hero of an epic journey, before they began their lifelong dream of cultivation, so they could right the injustice in the world. I nearly got caught up on the fact that I was already referring to myself as the crazy sage. Fortunately, I was able to regain my Focus, and found my thoughts on the concept of the old wise teacher who could bestow wisdom, and help a student overcome the adversity that plagued them in their past that made it so they were unable to proceed with their future.

I focused and could almost see the idea of such a person coming to life within my mind. I would go and pull pranks like getting the cultivator to weed my crops, to learn patience or some such esoteric nonsense. Yet, despite how clear of an image this all became, I could not get a second-class option to appear.

“Are you constipated? Or are you trying to do what I said to do the first time?” Mallory asked.

“I am not constipated.” I nearly hiss through my teeth.

“So you are trying for a second class? Don’t even bother, it won’t work.”

“What? Why?”

“It is what happens, that first time, when you unlock a new realm of the game, that is when you can be offered a new class. That was how I got my Valkyrie class, as I was one of the first to discover the spirits and try to interact with them.” Mallory states, then she pauses, “isn’t that how you got your two classes?”

At that, I pause as I never really thought about the process that went into getting me the classes. The first one was sort of provided by the great turtle, where I was given Void Walker, to begin with. But did I come up with directing the creation of that class from my own want to walk amongst the spirits? Then with Simulacrum Master, I know I likely did more of the same.

Still, I refused to think that as the progenitor of this new field of knowledge and study that my only class available to me would be a QiFF, and yeah, Mallory was right, that is a horrible name. But to my defense it was a horrible class and I want to make sure I never take it, especially as it would likely involve fighting, or focus on improving combat related aspects.

No for now, I would work on trying to find more skills related to Qi, and see if I could get a better option available after some trial and error with this still new and uncharted energy. Granted it took me to get my Angel’s Sight to tier VII to be able to finally see Qi as something different than mana and blood flow, but I might have needed that understanding to this point.

Realizing that I still had a den of dragons to heal, and that if any creature likely had high levels of blood, mana, and qi running through their bodies it would be dragons I decide to go on and work on my next set of volunteers, or patients.

“You ready?” I ask, as I begin to walk down the now much cleaner staircase that seems to exude health, thanks to my cleansing Yggdraspirit. I still haven’t come up with a way to release antibodies into the tree that would help it fight this spiritual infection, but I feel so much closer. Also, having a smaller body to work on like a dragon might also help with this task as well.

Not even waiting for Mallory’s reply, I am about ten steps of the long one hundred human sized steps needed to take to get to the base of the dragon den, right where the guards to the once great dragon clan lay hunched over in near constant pain. Still despite the state of their bodies, the oldest, or at least largest of the guardian dragons straightens out its back, raising its head high and proceeds to let out a massive roar of challenge.

GRRROOOWWWLLL!

Fwossh!

To my right I see a blur that zooms past me and impacts squarely with the dragon that dared to offer challenge. No mana, no unknown charge effect, just zero to a hundred in less than a second.

Kapow!

There was a thud, as Mallory’s gauntleted fist struck the tough skull of the massive dragon. Only for the dragon to drop like a launched sac of potatoes straight to the ground.

Thud.

The dragon was out cold. Worse, I could tell there was a skull fracture, swelling of the brain, and even heavily spiking vitals of the great beast.

“Goodness Mallory.” I shout, as I begin running forward to tend to the downed creature.

Growl.

As I charge, the other dragons all stir awake, but I tune them all out as I open up my third eye, which allows me to focus solely on the target I am healing. Viewing a dragon through an enhanced vision of my third eye, feels like trying to view the sun through a microscope. Still, I don’t let this stop me, as I begin focusing on the mind and skull area of the creature, quickly reducing the swelling of the brain and reducing damage suffered by the brain, or TBI. Once the dragon is stable, I notice an influx of Qi to the wounded area, this I realize is partly due to my healing efforts that sent mana directly to the area, and also due to the swelling nature of blood that was in the area. At this I realize there might be ways to stimulate the flow of Qi to areas from trauma, as my mind instantly thinks back to all those stupid movies where the cultivator was whipped or forced to push their bodies through the harshest of trainings to succeed. Seeing this, I can sort of understand that, and realize that these thoughts might somehow relate to the way someone can cultivate.

The moment I solidify that thought is when I am granted a new skill.

New Skill Gained: Qi Lore has reached level 1.

Skill Qi Lore is a Perception, Intelligence X 2, and Willpower based skill.

With that skill, I realize that Mallory was right, I can sort of influence skills based on what I am understanding at the time. Again, this skill is not exactly what I wanted, but it is close enough to not cause any major problems.

While I was contemplating the nature of Qi, and how it flows within the body, I made what would likely be my most surprising discovery of all time.

“Holy smokes, how could I have missed it.” I state, as my mind tries desperately to put into words what I was now seeing.

“What? What is it?” Mallory asked.

“The Blight, it, how could I…?” I trail off my mind trying to fully process what I was seeing happening within the very dragon I was trying to save.