The Mechanical Bars lit up, formations activated across the length of the bars and Phera was lifted into the air, she hung there gently, inches from the floor. There was almost no change in her altitude, she didn't bobble and shake. No, she floated there, suspended in the air like a flying knife. She landed and the bars moved around her, planting into the foundation, another formation lit up and Phera walked inside.
"What is all this for?" Hana asked Elder Kesra.
Phera sat down and took in the energy that was gathering around her. Hana observed as best she could. There were some similarities to the formation for field energies that were marked on the bars. Lights pulsed and spiraled and the energies accumulated, flowing into the center of the formation. Phera placed a jar near the edge and collected a few drops. When she was done, she brought out a crystal straw and drank the rest.
Phera's face twitched, she stomached the substance, a collection of elemental essences. It looked as if she had done the action a few times before, there was pain but she tried not to flinch.
'She must be trying to intimidate me or something,' Hana laughed inside, a smile appeared on her face and she entered the formation.
A bitter black seeped off her wings and entered the energy pool collection point, it was darker, more bold and its aura changed. Hana placed her hands inside the collecting puddle, circulating her energy into her fingertips. She didn't want to drink the liquid, but if it was drawing on her energy, then it was made of her energy and had already mixed with it. With no resulting explosion, she was confident in absorbing it directly.
Hana finished off the collected fluid and more started to appear. "What's the point if it takes the energy back all the time, and isn't this sort of formation full of holes?" Hana walked out of the formation and started to explain. "What happens if you're cultivating with this, recycling your power. You're totally open to attack. What happens if someone introduces a poisonous aura?" The moment the words left her mouth, Phera's face changed, she grew suspicious and angry at the concept.
"Great. Now I have to find out.. " Phera resented the extra work, the bars were designed to help her accelerate her training. An invention designed by her. "Dammit." she cursed under her breath and stared at Hana's wings again. There was black fire rolling across its edge, a flash of green and a flash of pink. A single lick of white would randomly appear across the black. "Your wings, so interesting, a family trait?"
"No, its something from my tribe. Those bars work really well but its true, you could easily be poisoned by violent intent making its way into your formation. I think those bars would do better under an isolation field when surrounded by materials of a desired trait and effect." Hana pulled a sheet of paper from the counter and walked up to one of the bars. She made a rubbing and laid it flat on the table. "That would help with absorption, but you wouldn't get the same effect from the environment. If I had to say something specific, it would be that you should not use this item unless entirely sure it will be free of a negative influence."
Hana started to draw on the etching and erased a few parts. "Here, here, here and here. You have to at least get the condensation to a focal point, if you channel it here and then set up a secondary purification formation underneath and beyond the range of the condensation point then there should be a cumulative effect. You won't have to worry about a poisonous aura, you'd still have to worry about an incoming attack but if used in isolation your training will at least be safe and in the same direction you were trying to go beforehand." Passing the paper over to Phera, Hana walked over to the wall and picked up a book.
She sat down and started reading. Phera went over the details of the rubbing. Each of the bars were essentially the same thing, 3, 4, and five foot in length. Some provided other functions beside flight, but they were tethered to her core. Her tail started to wag excessively and she started to memorize the design to look for any room for improvement. Phera had always been taught that formations needed to be singular purpose, the less options they did each, the more potential they could possess. When a formation did too many things, its specialization virtually disappeared.
Standing next to the formation that was still active on the ground, Phera tossed a bucket of water elemental essence into the air, it collected and condensed. The liquid started to change a different color, it roiled and fused. She used a few large jars to collect the fluid then deactivated the pooling formation. "Here. I don't take charity." Phera passed one of the Jars over to Hana and put the rest away. Grabbing a book, she sat down across the room and started to go over the material inside.
Elder Kesra's eyes lit up at the diagram that was laying on the table. She picked it up and walked to another room. 'Smart kids.' She redrew the formation on a piece of metal, then made twenty more. When she was done, Elder Kesra returned to the room and placed the paper on the table. Hana took notice but remained silent.
There were seven other students that walked around the room, some had been with the Formation department for years, two others besides Hana had been selected to do formations. Joo and Begonia were both seventeen, Brother and Sister from the Hedise Family.
"Hi, I'm Joo." He introduced himself and pointed to his sister, "This is Begonia, she's quiet and really good at laying formations." The wink from his eye gave Hana the urge to slap him but Begonia saw the book in Hana's hand.
"Spacial Formations? You can understand that stuff?" Begonia got closer and started asking dozens of questions.
Hana stopped her and got up. "I literally just got the book. Aren't you suppose to study?"
Begonia seemed slighted, she looked down in shame. "I just wanted a friend, sorry." Getting up and returning to her seat, Joo followed behind.
"Was that really necessary?" Joo's voice seemed like it was an earnest question.
Hana's mind was a literal one. She replied, "I've done nothing. Your sister has the wrong idea."
Joo shook his head, unwilling to get into a fight with someone who didn't understand. He mumbled something under his breath and turned to his sister.
The book laid out on the counter, Hana kept reading. The spacial formation book was rather thick and held the key to creating dimensional rifts to a targeted or artificial space. There was a major issue with portals, they required a lot of power and were almost impossible to move once established.