New world rise of alexander chapter 26
"Moon demon that... moon demon this..." I mumbled to myself on the walk back to the cabin. All in an attempt to distract myself from the pain that still throbbed through my entire body.
It was a walk that seemed to be taken inch by inch resting on every tree that layed in my path, I can't say for certain how long it took but I looked up and there it was my cabin. Never have I been gladder to see it standing there in all its old and worn-down glory.
After entering I inched my way to the couch now feeling the effects of what I assumed was internal bleeding. It was odd even when I could barely move and it felt like there was a small person in my head beating my brain with a hammer, I knew I wouldn't die.
"This much won't kill me" I thought now laying on the couch, finally able to get off my feet.
After a short rest where I fought off the urge to sleep, I remembered the medicine that Riticus gave to me and knew now was a better time than any to apply the medicine. It came in a clear glass container but the medicine itself was a deep red color, oddly enough had no smell and when I reached my finger in to scoop some of it up, it had a cold wetness to it.
I didn't question it, Riticus said this was medicine and I... I don't know why but I believed it wholeheartedly.
The feeling of rubbing it into my now bruised stomach where I had been punched, was the greatest relief I'd felt in all my life. It seemed to surge throughout my body, into my bloodstream and even further, "it's giving my Ki commands." I said out loud.
That's what It felt like, something inside the medicine was working along with my Ki to mend the damage inside me. I stayed there rested on the couch for some time, I would close my eyes and attempt to sleep but sleep wouldn't come, all that came instead were horrific images of Riticus...
I kept replaying the fight in my head... It wasn't grand, no, all it was... was a nobody going against someone truly born and raised in the Murim. "Why'd I follow him... why'd I think I could win?"
These thoughts wouldn't let me sleep; he didn't just punch me once. No leave it to my mind and it feels like he punched me, one hundred times, beat me one hundred times. Each more embarrassing than the last.
I attempted to sleep some more wanting to escape, but still sleep wouldn't take me. After some time, the pain died down, then I remembered what he said... "Ki can be allocated to certain areas of the body." He said it so casually, but I felt like it was the secret to beating him. "I could've won if only I knew that." I felt arrogant saying it, but a part of me, deep down told me so. I just repeated it, and doing so solidified it.
I sat back, putting my mind at ease and thinking back on my fight with Riticus.
"Riticus left an after image. He moved faster than the human eyes could perceive. How fast is that." I thought, sitting up, now no longer feeling the pain. My blood felt like it was boiling. I wanted to win and now I felt like I could.
It'd be difficult and I felt like I was at the base of a mountain, but people have climbed the tallest mountain. I know I could overcome this foe. My search began on just the human eyes. I learned that "Humans can respond to incoming visual stimuli at a maximum rate of about 13 milliseconds. Any data stream faster than this would surpass our perceptual limits."
This was a good starting point, but I knew with the qi being sent throughout my body that my perception was already many times faster than that and that what I needed was something more.
The next step seemed the hardest. I remembered when I attempted to shoot a ball of ki out of my arm, the feeling of ki filling my arm. Scared me nearly to death, the thought that my arm would explode, raced throughout my mind.
I can't do the same with my eyes, I knew that much. I sat there for some time thinking of a way around having to jump right into to testing the limits of how much ki my eyes could manage.
"A qi mold of my eyes." The thought came suddenly to me, honestly, I don't think it'd work but what if I made a qi mold of my eyes, that would completely remove the fear of losing them. It gives me an almost endless number of attempts to getting things perfectly.
To begin I started where everything with qi molding normally starts, with research on the topic. It didn't take long, after ten or so minutes I had knowledge on all aspects of the eyes.
After that I began sensing the qi flowing throughout my body just noticing the small amounts of qi that were already traveling to every aspect of my body, all I needed to do was focus on my eyes, even doing this was a terrifying process but it was necessary to get an understanding of my starting point and to get a complete mental image of my eyes.
After thirty minutes of this and after drawing my eyes to near perfect replication, I began the mold. It was oddly simple, I got the exact size from feeling the qi traveling in my eyes, the texture however was a bit more difficult seeing as I had to physically touch my eyes several times. Which wasn't a fun experience, but with that everything was in place.
I succeeded with the first mold; it wasn't difficult in the slightest. I held in my hand a sphere in shape, about 24.2 millimeters (about 0.95 in) wide, 23.7 millimeters high, and 22.0–24.8 millimeters deep and yes, I even replicated every blood vessel in my eyes.
The next part however was the difficult aspect of all of this, my eyes received a very small amount of qi constantly and to make this experiment worthwhile I needed to replicate that qi flow.
I needed to take my mold that was already completely made of qi and somehow add a secondary layer of qi to it. Then I needed to slowly increase that secondary layer of qi to the maximum level my eyes could handle.
My first attempt of injecting my eyes with qi was oddly terrifying, my eyes expanded to an absurd degree, protruding on all side seeming to be filling with a hot gas... then exploded. The scene was heart stopping, but I knew this was the path that needed to be taken.
I attempted these fifty other times with less and less qi, every attempt led to the same end, a slow expanse then an explosion... After some time, I stopped with the qi molds then refocused my attention on the qi that flowed throughout my body.
I knew my experiments had to be flawed in some way. That had to be the case seeing as I do have qi that's flowing into every aspect of my body. Even more than what I'm using for my experiments. I know my eyes can handle more qi than what the replica can handle but why?
I sat there for what seemed like an hour lost in thought. "Qi is flowing throughout my entire body. Yet still the qi mold of my eyes explodes when injected with qi, any amount of qi... When injected with qi?" I thought finally figuring it out, I can sense qi! why didn't I realize that was all I was doing.
From the start I was wrong only focusing on the fact that my eyes had qi traveling to them not the means at which they traveled there. It seems obvious now, the reason why my eyes and every other sensitive area of my body could handle the stain of qi was because of the means at which the qi traveled to them, wasn't direct it was being split into many different paths each leading to the same destination just at differing times, The qi is never not moving never not flowing.
I quickly made a qi mold; a task which was now easier than ever. I stared at my eyes focusing on the blood vessels, as I added qi to the mold the blood vessels seemed to pulse, I could feel the qi slowly flowing, following the path of blood to deliver the qi to every area of the eyes coating it. I assumed that if I could see through these qi molded eyes my vision would be enhanced.
I began attempting to match the qi being sent to my eyes to the qi being sent to the mold. When I was sure these were about the same, I began "There it's done." I said now all that was left was to see just how much my eyes could handle.
I started slowing increasing the qi. I meticulously watched the blood vessels as the qi increased, I couldn't see a difference in the blood vessels even after I had doubled the qi flowing to the mold. I wouldn't stop here I kept going two times, three times, four times, five times... ten times. Ten times the amount of qi flowing is where I noticed that trace amounts of qi seemed to shootout off the given path, exposing my eyes to raw qi in the process.
"Ten times is the limit... before things start going bad." I thought to myself, placing the qi mold on the table. I wasn't as scared as I was when I started, I knew now exactly how much qi my eyes could handle.
I wasn't going to hold off on it anymore, I knew sleep wouldn't come not while I was so enthralled in this experiment. So, I got started, picking up the mold off the table, reducing the qi flowing through it to only three times. I used it as a reference and began increasing the qi flowing through my eyes.
"It burns... It burns so much." I yelled out, I wanted to run to the bathroom and wash my eyes out but when I opened them, I was in a whole other world. My eyes were like a telescope, ants that crawled on the floor of my cabin looked to be the size of puppies.
It was a sight I couldn't properly describe; I couldn't look away my eyes took in every movement of these puppy sized ants. I couldn't tell if maybe they were moving incredibly slow or if my brain was stuck on stupid. They were all I could see, all I could think about, it's like being tied to a chair.
Arms and legs bound by rope, but my eyes are forced open, force to watch whatever is in front of me. I couldn't say how long it took, thirty or more minutes but when my vision returned to me, and I was able to think.
I practically blurted out "sensory overload". The feeling was like, running ahead only to realize that you left your thoughts behind, and needed to wait for them to catch up.
To handle eyes that take in so much information, I'd need a brain that could process such large amounts of information coming in at extreme detail.
This was so much fun I had nearly forgotten all about Riticus at this point, a new grander Idea came to mind. I got up slowly my mind still a bit dazed from memories in such detail that my mind just couldn't properly remember them.
After getting up I walked over to the bathroom, I stood in the mirror then began to strip, seeing myself felt foreign. My body was a brick of muscles... "I'll do it" I thought staring at my figure.
"I'll make a qi mold of my entire body from there; I'll enhance every aspect of myself past human understanding. My sight is just the start, hearing, taste, smell and touch... I'll even enhance my brain... maybe I could even gain a superpower hah."
Looking at myself in the mirror while I said this should've been the moment I realized something was wrong... I didn't look right... My eyes had grown larger... no that wasn't it not my eyes... my pupils had gotten larger, they floated there like two black holes.
I couldn't be bothered to pay it any mind, I washed my face and left the bathroom beginning to research the human body.