The bolt of lightning that struck Mane was powerful, the shockwave from its descent knocking Abelard and Jake onto the ground. They could hardly believe that the target of that lightning bolt looked so energetic and well. There were no signs of injury on Mane. The only evidence of the difficult battle were his dirty clothes and dusty face. The former exhaustion was nowhere to be seen.
"How is that even possible?" Jake asked with disbelief as he struggled to get back onto his feet. He fell the first few times, finally managing to pick himself up on his fourth try. Scepticism filled his voice as he sought to understand what was happening before him. Lightning was a destructive element. It was one of the rarer forces of nature. As an uncontrolled beast, it gave life and took it back on its whims. Fire was birthed from this great element, and although fire in itself was destructive, it paled in comparison to its parent.
What they had just witnessed was full of improbabilities. Let us ignore the fact that Mane had used a fire based technique to conjure a lightning storm, no matter what the origins of the technique were. The element that had been deemed uncontrollable by all, was freely summoned by him! Not only had it been called upon, they had also witnessed it being used in rarer form. It wasn't used to destroy, but rather to give life. Now the Mane who was a sitting duck, was up and running, as energetic as a waddling penguin.
"You promised not to use any inner energy. How is this possible without it?" Indeed, Abe had asked a good question. For how did a person with no inner energy command lightning? Putting the strange technique aside, wait…what was it called again? Ah, yes. The dragon god's cannon. Putting this technique aside, how did Mane call out the lightning? For although the dragon god's cannon had created a 'false' storm, lightning was unpredictable. It was impossible to judge the trajectory of lightning. After all, although thunder accompanied lightning, it only sounded after lightning had struck. Abe found it difficult to believe that Mane accomplished such a feat without inner energy. His captain was an impressive wielder, but even he surely had limits, right?
"Bloodline glows are divided into two categories: passive; and active skills."
"You don't have to give us a lecture on bloodline glows. We know what they are." Abe snappily stated.
"Hehe. Well, all the bloodline glows I inherited are active skills, except one." Mane didn't mind his friend's interruption. He would be more surprised if his friend wasn't annoyed by the turn of events.
"I had mostly forgotten about them. After all, very few people have been able to force me to use them. They are also pretty dangerous. One of these glows I personally named 'Basileus'. This glow when activated, allows me to access the abilities of a spiritualist. It is a complex skill. I will tell you more about it later. Basically, I can use magic when it is activated. Of course, it has its own price."
Jake nodded at Mane's words. It was understandable that an ability that would allow he, Mane, to fight against wielders as a non-wielder would have an expensive condition attached to it. He was more interested in that thing called 'magic'. However, since Mane had promised to explain later, he could only wait patiently. Besides, from the way Abelard was gritting his teeth, any questions that had nothing to do with the issue at hand, would result in a knock to his head. He took a few steps away from his friend to avoid any emotional outbursts.
"Well, the only passive glow I have is called 'Son of Lightning'. Since it is a passive skill, I can safely conclude that it is one passed down directly from my father or mother to me"
Abelard nodded his head after finally calming down. Even for him, having victory snatched away from his eager hands when he was so close, was very hard to swallow. For someone who had set Mane as a goal, this blow came harder to him than it did anyone else. Unlike John and Jake who saw Mane as an elder brother, Abe viewed him as a rival. That made the proceedings of the past few minutes difficult to accept.
After regaining his composure, he realised how vital Mane's words were. Many individuals inherited more passive glows than they did the active ones. This was simply because passive glows were glows that were passed down from generation to generation. They were techniques that you expected a child to have once his father or mother had it. Most of the time, many inherited passive glows from both parents, with one or two active glows. For Mane to inherit a passive glow related to lightning, it must mean that his family was acquainted with the mysterious lightning element. Whoever Mane's parents were, they were definitely extraordinary.
"Normally, this technique remains dormant, for it is only useful during a storm or under a heavy downpour. The description of the technique is simple. As long as there is a storm, I can freely use lightning without any restraints. Pretty sweet right?" Mane ended his description with a broad smile on his face.
"That's not a technique brother Mane. It's a cheat", Jake adamantly insisted. Abelard nodded his head as well. With such a technique, Mane would basically be without equal as long as there is a bit of rain.
"Well now, life isn't fair, is it?" Mane had a cocky smile on his face as he played carelessly with a small lightning bolt. Abe had the urge to punch that smile off his face. Talk about adding insult to injury.
"You don't have to look so glum Abe. The technique has its drawbacks. Although it seems like conjuring a storm is an easy feat, it is anything but. The dragon god's cannon is a supreme skill that even under the effects of the 'Basileus' glow, I can rarely use. A skill like that leaves me without any inner energy for two days. And since I used it when I had no inner energy, the penalty is tripled. I feel that it would at most be a week before I can access my inner energy at all. The Basileus glow also makes any form of spiritualist based abilities inaccessible to me for a week."
Abe looked visibly better upon hearing Mane's words.
"Wait! You're a Spiritualist?" he asked, finally realising what he had ignored in his anger. Jake looked just as puzzled as Abe.
"I will tell you about that later. For now, let's finish what we started. So, who's first."