As they finished up their meal something Alea had said had stuck with him. So much so that he let curiosity win out over caution and asked her a question.
“You mentioned something about developing a technique being weird. Does that mean you haven’t developed one yet?”
She looked over at him, a fire burning in her eyes and a look like she was about to hit him. Then he realized how he had just come off.
He raised his hands toward her. “Wait wait! That’s not what I meant!” He rushed through before she tried to hit him or burn him to a crisp. “I’m just trying to get some context for what you said.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You really don’t know? Amos or master Taleya never explained any of this to you?”
“Master Amos was always more concerned with my progress. Whenever I asked questions about things so I could get a gauge for how I measured up to other cultivators he’d either ignore me or change topics. Taleya was the same.”
Alea frowned. “Huh. To answer your question..sort of.”
“Sort of? What does that mean?”
“I’ve developed a way to fly. For a while my control was lacking, but as I trained it’s become more versatile. At first I could maybe slow myself from a fall, then I could hover in place a little while. Now I can more or less fly. Not for long, and my maneuverability isn’t the best yet, but still.”
“So where does the ‘sort of’ come in?”
“Because it’s not a technique in the truest sense.” She said angrily.
“It’s not? You sure?”
“Yes Bumpkin I’m sure.” She said as she rolled her eyes. “A proper technique is supposed to use a property of your element in a unique way to achieve a desired effect.”
Will thought for a moment. “I know I’m a little inexperienced here but…you use your fire to achieve flight. Sounds like a technique to me.”
She huffed in exasperation, an angry fire returning to her eyes.
“It’s…it’s too rough ok?? I can’t just take off and fly on a whim like some fire users can. What I can do can barely be called flight. Despite the YEARS I’ve spent working on it!”
Will was thoughtful for a moment before speaking. He could tell this was a sensitive topic for her and he didn’t want to say the wrong thing and possibly ruin their friendship.
“I know what I say doesn’t carry a lot of weight, but I say your flight technique is amazing. If only you could see yourself from my eyes when you’re using it. During that fight in the tournament? Your control was amazing! And you were able to utilize the ability to an amazing degree. Master Amos says it all the time. It’s not always how strong a move is that’s the most important. It’s knowing when and how to use it. And by that gauge you excelled and then some.”
He sounded like he was trying to lay it on thick, and maybe he was, but every word of it was true. And she needed to see, even a little, how she looked from another perspective. He knew as well as anyone how hard is it to get out of your own head.
“You’ll get the hang of true flight, I know it. And that flame tornado thing you did in the tournament? I don’t know if you think that was just a simple manipulation of flames and momentum, but that was a technique in itself as well. Something doesn’t have to be complicated for it to be considered a true cultivator’s technique. At least that’s the way I feel.”
“…Thanks Will.” She said as she turned her head away.
“You’re welcome.” He said awkwardly.
It felt weird to say that. Will didn’t have a whole lot of experience dealing with interactions with other people. Even after coming to this new world that hadn’t really changed.
He mentally shrugged. He could only try his best. He had a feeling being slightly awkward might kind of just be his thing.
Will spent the rest of the day working on his new lightning sense. He tried to filter Alea’s presence in such a way that he could not be blinded by it. He surprisingly made some progress. Once he could sense her without feeling like he was staring into a bonfire, he tried to broaden his field of vision so to speak.
Hard was an understatement. Fighting came naturally to him. He was able to fall into this rhythm and sort of feel the next move to make. Combining his training and the feel of the fight to great effect. This was an entirely different beast. He felt like he had to constantly fight to grasp what he was supposed to do to get it right. But, slowly, and with a lot of struggle and trial and error, he felt like he was making progress.
It’s not like there was someone teaching him how to do this, so he guessed he should give himself more grace. He had to figure out how to use and work his technique all on his own.
Master Taleya’s teachings on basic elemental technique theory had laid a groundwork of knowledge that he was able to work off from though. Which, while not much to go on, and he didn’t expect it to be, was still a Godsend. It was enough to point him in the right direction.
With some trial and error he figured out that instead of trying to focus his attention specifically, his sense worked a lot better if he let himself relax. Like letting your vision unfocus slightly so you could see what was going on in your peripherals; only not at the same time. It was an odd frame of mind to get into. As contradictory as it sounds, the solution ended up being both a relaxation of his mind and body, and an odd focus happening at the same time. Like trying to pay attention to what everyone was doing in a largely packed room. It was during this training that Will was starting to appreciate how cultivation had improved his mind and his ability to not only focus but focus on many things at once. The thought made him even more excited to continue to improve and move up through the realms of power.
With about two hours of practice he thought he had it down.
As he let his sense slowly broaden in what felt like a sphere around him, he got an idea of what he could and couldn’t sense. From trees and plant life he felt nothing. To him, inanimate objects and anything plant based was almost a black space to him; like nothing existed there at all.
He was sure his sense must have been going over thousands of insects, but he felt nothing of them. They must be to small and his senses to weak to pick them up.
At a certain point he could feel his sense strain and then stop cold. It was odd. The very edge wasn’t a distinct line, but more of a fuzzy edge. If he had to guess, he would say he could extend it thirty feet or so. Not a massive distance, but not insignificant either.
He sat in his meditative stance and worked on simply maintaining his field of lightning sense. It wasn’t insanely hard to do, but neither was it effortless. He could already tell that trying to keep this up all day would exhaust him. That’s if he would even be able to do it at all. And even if he managed it, unless he got better control of what he could sense, the technique would be useless to him.
As he sat and worked, he realized that Alea appeared as nothing more than a big blob of light to him. He could tell basically no detail at all. Which is weird, because he should be able to see much more than that. He wasn’t an expert, but he assumed that the electrical currents and impulses ran throughout the entire body. So by that theory, he should be able to see exactly what she was doing and how she was moving.
Instead, all he saw was a walking lightbulb.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
He ended up spending the rest of the day at it with nothing changing on the detail end of it.
But at one point, a small animal had walked through his lightning sense’s field of influence. As opposed to Alea, the little guy was hard to pick up at first. He was sniffing around the edge of Will’s field, in what Will assumed was in a search for food.
Either the little squirrel sized animal was almost too small for him to read, or the edge of his field was too weak.
It ended up being the latter.
When it did make a bolt at a berry that had fallen to the ground, Will got his first feel for how an animal would register to him.
It felt like a soft glowing orb skittering over empty space. Definitely no where near the brightness of Alea. Was that because of its size or lack of cultivation? Combination of the two? Another thing to keep in mind as he tried to figure this technique out with more practice.
Again he couldn’t differentiate limbs or body parts, or even a general shape besides the relative size of its body, but at least he knew he could sense it.
It scurried in, snatched the berry, and Will felt it bolt away the way it had come and out of range of his senses.
The rest of the day saw no progress. But he wasn’t discouraged. This was a great step towards the refinement of a technique that could be a pillar in his skill set. The greatest swordsmen in the world could still lose to a dagger in the back. If he could manage to figure this out, this could give his survivability a massive boost.
The next day saw them back on the road. Will had a great idea and tried to train his lightning sense while he walked behind Alea. Unfortunately he had to keep his eyes closed to use it. He thought he could make it work anyway, but after walking square into two different trees and falling flat on his face, he decided to wait until they were back on the road to give it another try.
Once they were however, he was able to walk with his eyes closed and use his lightning sense with no more trouble than an occasional trip.
The days started to flow by like this. All day on the road, followed by a decent hike into the woods to make a safe camp, then back on the road in the morning.
Will spent as much time as possible either meditating or training his lightning sense. And of course they both devoted some time before bed and right after they woke up cultivating. They weren’t able to spend as long doing it, but every little bit counted.
Besides, the routine helped him feel like he was back in the forest clearing with master Amos. Back home.
Almost two weeks since leaving the dwarven city, Will and Alea came upon another small village. It looked much the same as the last one, only this time Will thought there was something off about it.
He didn’t see a single soul or hear a single sound coming from the buildings. Nothing seemed to be moving at all. It almost felt like the air around the town was holding its breath.
Will stopped in the middle of the road, looking oddly at the cluster of homes, trying to decide what felt off.
It was slightly bigger than the last one. A few of the homes looked more like actual buildings, made up sturdy woods with no gaps. There were more homes as well, one or two of those bigger than those around it. But all in all still a simple and small village. Something still seemed off about it though.
“Will? You wanna move it along? I’d like to get to where we’re going before I’m old and grey.”
He was about to answer when he felt a new sensation. This was separate than the off feeling he was getting from the village, but something it was taking a second to place.
My lightning sense!
It wasn’t something he could use with eyes open yet, but with the near constant practice he had been doing, he must of unconsciously sent a small piece of his senses out around him.
It was this that he was picking up.
Someone’s close.
It was that realization that saved his life.
He immediately activated a full body lightning coating around his body and moved. Instinct warning him not to sit still.
He moved left, and then right, never committing to a straight line. Something small and deadly zipped by his head milliseconds after he had moved.
He quickly moved towards where his senses unconsciously picked up someone hiding. They were in one of the hovels, peaking through a small window that had a flimsy fabric over it.
Instead of smashing through the wall, he flashed over to the opening of the house.
He paused briefly, closed his eyes and tried to sense where the attacker was.
That moment allowed him to realize the person was about to barrel out the hovel and into the make shift ‘street’.
He pressed himself flat against the wooden boards of the house, his back to the panels.
A man came barreling out, sprinting for all he was worth.
Will ducked low and sent a lightning covered fist into the man’s midsection. Using his momentum against him. Will had angled his punch low and up, so the man didn’t get sent flying back, but instead was borderline impaled on Will’s fist.
The man’s eyes widened in surprise and pain. The shock and force of the blow leaving him momentarily stunned.
Will takes advantage, bringing his arm back. As the man falls Will grabs him by the neck, puts his right leg behind the man’s right foot and pushes. Sending his attacker to the ground with Will staying on top of him.
Will raises his fist, sheathed in lightning, and leaves it cocked and ready.
“Why did you attack me?”
It comes out as a growl. He didn’t mean for it to.
He’s been in fights, he’s been training non stop for almost a year now. But that man had tried to kill him. Really kill him. Only the training beaten into him over long hours had saved his life. His muscle memory and instincts doing what his conscious mind wasn’t experienced enough nor fast enough to do.
Will did his best to put aside the shock and focus on the man.
He was a burly guy, an unkempt dirty beard on a dirty face. As his eyes cleared, he glared at Will and did nothing but grimace silently.
So Will repeated the question. With a little pressure to the man’s throat and a small jolt sent through his body to remind him of the position he’s in.
“Bloody kids.” He said with a grimace. He bares bloody teeth and then grins at him.
Will hears a massive growl. The sound so deep and so loud it feels like it comes from a beast bigger than a house. Before he gets swallowed whole Will moves. With lightning already covering him, his body moved before he even had the perception to notice that he was moving.
An arrow slams into the man’s arm. He howls in pain as he grips the wound with his other hand.
Will backs off, retreating back into the road where this whole interaction started.
He looks around frantically, searching for where the growl came from. A small part of him notices that if he hadn’t moved, that arrow would have went straight through his heart.
Nothing. No massive monster, no teeth as big as a sword.
What is going on?
It’s at that point he notices something else. Alea is no where to be seen. As much as he hates to admit it, right now he doesn’t have time to worry about her.
Ten men come out into the space between the road and the village. They’re all dirty, unkempt, with leather clothes and patchwork armor. Five had swords, two had spears, and the rest were armed with knives.
One of the ones with swords steps out slightly ahead of the others.
“A lightning user? You’re supposed to be a myth kid.”
Will stays still. His body on a knife’s edge, coiled and ready to strike at a moments notice.
There were a lot of them, but he didn’t think they were a higher cultivation realm than him. At least he didn’t think so. He took down that one man to easily for them him to be in the Mind realm or higher. But the rest of them? Who knows.
The apparent leader becomes contemplative for a moment.
“A baby lightning user eh? Could be your worth something.”
The eleventh man, the one with the arrow sticking out of his arm came limping up to the group.
“Worth something or not.” He said, still holding his wound with his uninjured hand. “He doesn’t need to be in one piece to sell him off.”
The leader looked at the injured one who spoke. “You want another stab at him Graff?”
The man grimaced in pain. “Just take an extra big chunk out of him for me boss.”
What was Will supposed to do? They saw his abilities, which is going to give Belial a perfect trail to find them. But what could he even do at this point? Kill them? The cat was out of the bag and he’d have to deal with the consequences as they came. He wasn’t some animal willing to take a life because it was easier.
“Boss you got this right?” Another of the men said. “Can I go back to that house? That she-devil was putting up a real fight and it got my blood pumpin.”
Will’s blood ran cold and his eyes widened as he realized what the man meant. The villager’s…why it felt so quiet…
He expected fear to come flooding him. These were animals. Men willing to do whatever they wanted to whoever. They weren’t held back by the consequences of society or morality. They would rape, slit his throat, and go back to what they were doing. And he had no safety net of his master’s protection here.
Instead he felt rage. His vision went red. Amos warned him about this. Warned him of the false sense of superiority that came with people new to cultivation. They felt like they had all the power in the world, that they could do anything and fight anyone. He warned that many young cultivators found an early death because of this.
He struggled, more than he thought he would. Anger wasn’t something he had a problem with in his old world.
Taleya had mentioned that those who go through abuse and then finally start gaining strength can find themselves experiencing intoxicating and all consuming anger. She said it was a trap and to be wary of it. He hadn’t told her anything of his past, but something told him she knew anyway.
He clamped down on his anger with an iron fist and calmed his mind. Anger would make him stupid, uncoordinated, vulnerable. He would not be ruled by emotion.
He leveled a steeled gaze at the leader, about to make his move. Then the leader flipped the board.
A man walked out holding a kid, a knife to the child’s throat.
