Augmented Aspects: Chapter 121 Like Running Through Lightning (Patreon)

Chapter 121

Like Running Through Lightning

Whoosh.

The world was a blur around me. For a moment I almost thought I created a miniature wormhole in space and began moving freely through that void. Then I realized in no small part that this was exactly what I had done.

New Class Trait (Akashic Qi Master) Unlocked: Celerity: You have heightened your body and mind to such an extent that you can force reality to slow down around you, while you move and react to people and actions around you. Increases movement speed by a factor of one-one hundredth of your Dexterity Score. Current Value: 5.6.

The power was intense. For a moment, I felt like my heart was going to burst from my chest.

Badump, badump, badump.

In a fraction of a second, I felt my body move forward. I see the spell that Bolton cast to go off at the exact start of the match already beginning to form and manifest in Bolton’s hands. Seeing the spell, I also notice the long tether connecting me to the spell. Then the spell made it halfway between us, before I even realized it was time to move, or that I could move away from the seemingly slow moving magical attack.

As I moved, I felt the stark contrast of using a Qi based Trait power, versus a mana-based trait. For starters, the flow and execution were different. Since I didn’t have a true core, my whole body was effectively my Qi core. This was good and bad, good in the fact that it apparently allowed me to utilize Traits like Celerity, where I was able to expend Qi energy all over my body all at once, which allowed me to move quickly. The bad part was, again, the fact that I couldn’t use mana in this state. Or at least, I didn’t feel comfortable enough with this new and fully untested type of energy to go around exposing it to a second type of energy simultaneously, that would of course come later.

Realizing that I had apparently been given this ability for a reason, I felt there were a number of things I could do with this type of advantage. The first and most obvious piece was that I could run away, though that would only cause more ridicule on the part of the mages that I was here to train. No, I needed to take advantage of this new power that I had been granted. I didn’t know that this was possible, but I would love the ability to just move faster, or slow down the world around me, while I thought about a possible solution to a problem, which was exactly what I thought I could do at the moment.

Focusing, I realized that like all other Traits, this one had its own separate pool of energy to draw from, which was good as apparently this Trait was an energy guzzler. Given that natural Qi energy had something to do with the way my body moved, and stamina, I felt that if I used this ability with my regular Qi pool, I would be extremely sluggish afterwards.

There was also another important function that was present while under the presence of Celerity and that was that I could now see motes of Qi much more clearly. I could for instance see the pools of Qi flowing through Blow Hard Belton’s body, even as he forced mana to go through the natural currents of his body. Seeing him, I wanted to try out a reverse Acupuncture technique. Acupuncture, a skill that I have maxed out over my travels, is one that is meant to increase the speed of energy and its ability to flow within one’s body. Reverse Acupuncture would obviously be the opposite of that, like the way I fight off the Blight, I think I can use reverse Acupuncture to slow down or in some cases completely stop the flow of Qi within a body.

Moving forward, I move until I am right next to Belton. On some base level I can tell he is aware of my new movement speed, as he is clearly beginning to look both shocked and starting to move in reaction to my movements, but he is slow.

Moving forward, I take out my fingers then I begin pressing on the motes of Qi that are all but glowing to my heightened senses. Upper right shoulder, as I touch I see the well of energy disperse like dirt spreading away from soap. Then I begin tapping and poking elsewhere, finding that if I infuse my fingers with a touch of my own Qi, the lights seem to stay away longer.

Poke, poke poke.

I end up playing what I mentally refer to as the most interesting game of Simon Memory Game. Where the only way to permanently disperse the light is by poking the spot quickly.

Of course, the pokes are apparently painful, as the mage is both moving while continuing to channel energy into his spell.

Seeing that he is still channeling energy into his spell and that is both very powerful, as it seems to be along the lines of an Electrical Tempest spell that has been boiled down into one direct spot. Along with the fact that the closer I have gotten, the less distance this spell has to travel. Realizing it would be the height of stupidity for me to get electrocuted by purposefully moving closer to the spell’s origin, I first try to hit the stop button. I find a strip of Qi right under his core that is brightly lit, on reflex I strike at the line using my glowing left palm to strike at him.

Nothing.

Well, there is something as it appears that the blow was powerful enough to at least slightly raise him from his feet, but only a millimeter at most. Worse, the spell is still continuing to be cast, and I can see it curling up towards me.

Realizing that I am still being targeted with the spell, I use Qi infused fingers to remove myself as the targeting point of the spell and then attach it to his own forehead.

Tap.

With the spell now set to target its own caster’s forehead, I proceed to move behind the slow-moving mage. This movement is for multiple reasons, the first is that there are a lot more Qi pressure points that I can see glowing brightly on his back side, and the second and most important reason is that I will attempt to use the arch mage’s own body, in this case his head, as a method to protect myself from this spell.

I am in the middle of playing Simon Memory 2, when I see the spell arc around and strike at the mage.

Not wanting to be anywhere near this, I quickly find myself moving backwards, towards the edge of the spectators that had gathered to watch.

Then it happens.

Vertigo.

I feel my body all but lurch to a halt, as my special Qi pool for my new Celerity Trait has run completely dry.

Catching myself, I stagger in place, feeling my mind catch up to the slower speed that my body is now forced to move at.

In a way, it feels like I am now moving through molasses, as my muscles feel tight. I am trying to get used to the disorientation caused by using a new power to its complete and utter limit for the first time, when I am suddenly pulled from my own introspection by a loud explosion.

KABOOOM!!

A powerful bolt of lightning that could have easily killed me, had it made contact arced out from the outstretched hand of the mage, made a wide circling arc, going about halfway out to where I began the duel at.

Pause.

Arch Air Mage Belton just pauses, his whole body standing there in a rigid position, as his entire body and skeletal structure glows with light. Even the metal objects he has on him take on a bright glowing light to my eyes.

Then, the complete trail of mana burns up, almost like a lit fuse, or the remainder of a firework. Of course, the line in this case shows when the level of lethal power being used by the attacker stops.

Ozone.

There is the faint scent of ozone and burnt pork that fills the air. My heightened senses picking up the smells the electricity itself and the lingering damage caused by the attack.

For a moment, I wonder if there will be more. If I will still need to go one with this farce. Fortunately, I am quickly met with a system message letting me know that the duel was in fact over.

The duel between Arch Sky Mage Belton and Dr. Cassiopeia Spiritlight has ended with Dr. Spiritlight helping end Arch Sky Mage Belton with a self-assisted suicide.

Seeing the message, I momentarily paused, trying to grasp exactly what happened.

I was about to say something, when I was met with the completion notice of my quest as well. A prompt that apparently everyone else was also able to see.

Quest Completed: A Duel of Magical Masters:  Dr. Cassiopeia Spiritlight has won her duel against Arch Sky Mage Belton. Arch Sky Mage Belton will lose the ability to speak with or about you. Rewards: Experience, Guild Notoriety, Stated objectives.

Experience Gained.

2,500 / 1,250 / 1,250.

Geas of Silence: Arch Sky Mage Belton’s spirit will be imprinted with a permanent geas that will permanently keep him from speaking with or about you.

Five thousand total experience points, or basically the Arch Mage’s level rounded down to nearest hundred and multiplied by ten. Not too bad for a fight that lasted a couple of seconds. Well, a couple of real seconds, as I remember angrily tapping at him for quite a while before the burst of speed I had was over.

Also, it was sad that I now get roughly this much experience all the time, making it so that even getting a burst of 5,000 total experience isn’t enough to level me in any of my three classes.

I am so lost in the details of the quest being over, that I only recognize the ghost of Arch Mage Belton, after its body drops lifelessly to the ground, and then it’s now free-floating soul begins to get branded with a foreign energy that I can only assume is the geas that was spoken about.

“How?” Gwen asks.

Hearing the question, I pause for a moment before trying to put it as succinctly as possible, I reply.

“I think I had a breakthrough mid fight.”

“Death by Assisted Suicide?” Mallory states, her voice light and mocking.

“What? I just killed him, and you are laughing.” I say, completely at a loss for what is happening. I try to shake my head, as I didn’t want to kill and yet here it is, the worst-case scenario of a duel. A bag of burnt meat on the ground, and a free-floating spirit.

“Relax, just bring him back to life.” Mallory says.

And then like that, I realize that “oh yeah, I do have mana.”

I begin moving as the spirit of Belton begins moving away, apparently, he was done reading his quest notifications and was almost ready to head off into the afterlife.

“Not so fast.” I say, lacing my hand with intense spirit magic, the same way Mallory first showed me. Then I am back in dedicated healer mode, focusing on first stabilizing the patient, which in this case means reforming the spirit of Belton, before it can fully evaporate. Then once that is complete, I try to shove him back into his body, only to realize that the head, or the area where a head should be is now filled by a giant void. Seeing the head, I end up speaking my thoughts, “that bastard really did try to kill me.”

Then, shaking my head I realize that this is not the time for this. I am here to save lives, particularly those of regressors, particularly those that are part of my new guild, as such I will heal.

Rather than using the burnt charred husk of a body, I instead used Perfect Resurrection, taking the body of Belton, and making a younger more streamlined version of the body. I could improve his core, and now would be the perfect time to do so, but I hold off on that, as I have not gotten his permission to do so. I know this is one of the older mages of the game, as he was one of the first to settle down and join Mallory in the Midnight Hunters. The only difference being that Belton stopped going out and leveling, becoming content with what they had learned, while Mallory constantly pushed herself forward.

I see all this from his soul, not that being content is bad, but he was here in a world filled with magic and didn’t even try to understand the basics of magic. Instead, he just found spells, practiced the spells until he could copy them at will, and then left it at that. There was nothing else that pushed him as a mage. He reached level five hundred, saw that as the apex for himself and sat contentedly at that plateau. I hope this serves as a wake-up call for him. Also, with my giving him a younger body, I hope he finds the drive to go out and try to once again improve himself, or at the very least learn more about the craft he claims to have mastered.

Mana sweat.

Once again, the process is tiring, but not too tiring to forge a new and improved body from thin air, before moving on to the next step. Namely taking the spirit that I have been holding together by force and will alone, then forcefully pushing them into their smaller and younger body. The soul in this game is both infinite and malleable, meaning I could put it into any shape.

While I originally did this process on my own, the system has provided me with assistance and insights that make this whole process easier to accomplish. At first, I used crocheting to keep a soul in place. Now I still do that, but the process is a lot more seamless. I like to think of this as me improving my art of spell crafting, making it so that I can weave a soul back into the rightful body without any blatant reminders of said processes. Also, not going to lie, even if it makes me look like a freak, this third eye is amazing for helping me nail the small details of spell crafting at a micro level.

Finally, I get to the part where I am done, both the spirit and new body are perfectly aligned. Then reaching down to the chest, I pump in a light burst of Life Magic, causing the body and organs that had been stationary a moment ago to begin pumping automatically.

Cough, cough.

Within seconds Belton begins breathing in and coughing almost simultaneously.

At that people start talking. Well truth be told they were talking the entire time, but I was able to tune them all out, mainly I think due to the tunnel vision that occurs when I use my third eye, as that is distracting and provides so much detail that I have a hard time concentrating on anything else, while it is active.

“You did it?” A mage who I had been teaching the Cleansing Rain spell to for a few days now said. I assume since he was senior to me, that he had likely been under Belton for a while and thus had some camaraderie with the man.

With that another mage runs over to check on Belton, this is fine as I am already backing away, dabbing at the mana that is already drying up and being reabsorbed back into my skin as Qi. Such a weird process, but I don’t think about that at the moment. Right now, all I can think about is Belton and making sure he is okay.

“Look at you. You challenge our Magical Instructor to a Duel, one that you then lose by assisted suicide. Then as punishment you get sixty years shaven off your life span?” The mage says.

“I have agree, challenging the first Magical Doctor to a Magical duel is basically asking for an assisted suicide. What were you thinking?” Another mage, that now looks to be a senior to Belton due to the age of his body, asks.

At that I feel an encouraging hand grab me on the shoulder. I don’t have to look, as I already know it is Mallory, and I can tell by her position that she is now standing behind me to both encourage me to push this further, while also showing the others that she will stand behind me.

“So, with that out of the way. Does anyone else want to challenge me to a magical duel, or challenge my ability to cast spells?” I ask.

As I speak, everyone instantly goes quiet. Even the guards that I have healed go quiet as they seem to be all but waiting for another mage to say something in the form of a challenge.

“No, no, we are good.” The first mage that went to Belton asked, I think his name rhymes with Chris?

“Yes, in fact, I was hoping you could instruct me on how to cast the spell correctly.” The second speaker asks, I still have no clue what his name is, though that was because mentally I just called him clinger number two. With the first clinger being Chris.

Yes, this was it, four mages who were deemed to have the core and specifications needed to cast the Cleansing Rain spell, a simple Tier VII weather spell. Oh well, you work with what you’ve got, I guess.

“Right, well let’s get started…” I say, and like that three mages that were completely disrespectful moment ago line up and not quite eagerly, but acceptingly line up to receive instructions on spell casting.