Chapter thirty-six
*pant*
*pant*
*pant*
"Euuuuuh. I'm exhausted… I don't think I can do another mobility obstacle course. Dodging and rolling and dodging and rolling…"
Cain nodded, pleased with my last four hours or running me ragged.
"I am surprised truly. I did not expect you to make it even halfway through the course. Naturally, that was only the first warm-up version designed for Gydion but you really powered through it. How do you do it? You're only flesh after all. The sheer amount of duress you were under would leave any one of us youthful types in shambles, just look at Gydion over there."
Cain pointed out into the once again bleached expanse. There, Gydion lazily moped from one shard of his body to the next, muttering what I would assume to be all the bad words.
At least that's what I'd think he'd do given how much of a metal turd he has been today.
"R-right. Being made of rocks and stuff seems to go a long way…"
Cain tilts his head in acknowledgment of my statement before flicking his index finger palm side up. Two stump seats sprung out of the flat ground in the same motion that we both sat in once formed.
"So. You were saying something during the training, but I couldn't quite make it out. Something about being sick?"
Scratching the back of my head, I replied
"Mhmm. I've got this… Weird issue where my body steadily draws in mana. And so far what I've come to understand is that after a while it starts to negatively affect me due to the concentration maybe? It's something I was told to expect but I haven't really had to deal with it since Tryamon has always been able to draw out the excess."
Cain's face didn't shift or make any particular emote, as if he had already known of my Situation.
"So you've opted to attempt to spend the energy accumulated rather than wait for some curative or external force to deliver you to health."
I nodded.
"That's good. Being able to take action into your own hands during such situations at your feeble age is right and necessary I'd imagine, especially given your overall weak constitution on account of your composition."
"Ah, thanks?"
I guess it's okay that he recognizes the difference more acutely now, but it's a bit weird how frequently he mentions I think. Like, shouldn't it be something that you just keep in mind on the side without saying anything directly about it? I guess it doesn't matter too much so best not to spend too much time thinking about it.
"I'd like to continue training so I can exhaust as much energy as possible."
"Of course. I actually have something in mind for this next exercise. This next part of training I'm going to have you do will strictly adhere to ranged combat and particularly in the field of area denial. That way it'd give me the combat data I want and you'll also get the chance to exhaust plenty of energy."
My body feels a lot better than when we started so I guess that means the concentrated energy is somewhat dissipated so I guess the main goal is accomplished. Now all I've gotta do is finish whatever Cain suggests.
"Okay. We can start whenever." I say whilst standing up. My left hand drifted down to the empty sling attached to my belt, thoughtlessly prodding it with my hand as I waited for Cain to set the stage.
With a flick of his eyes the bleached space animated itself ever so slightly, as if a filter had been placed over it. The bleached space then flickered between grey and black spheres that danced around my vision with no real semblance of definition. Like they had yet to decide what form they were gonna take.
"How about a desert oasis?"
The spheres burst into meaningful motion, flattening on the second dimension into thousands of stitches that brought forth the scenery of his suggestion.
A gust of wind swept by us as the reality became concrete.
I could feel the arid air blow against my skin and clothes, carrying granules along the way. For some reason, the sensation brought back thoughts of assimilated memories that I had long since left behind due to the lack of use.
In my imagination, I saw what looked like the other me sitting alone on the water's edge with a notepad in hand, furiously writing. Though not much else from that memory felt all that important. I wonder why that one suddenly came to mind…
Cain looked over at me and gestured forward.
"I want you to conjure something like a thunderstorm and drench this area in a torrential downpour."
Eeeeh? I don't know if I could do something like that. The most I've been able to do is manipulate basic elements… I mean sure I was able to make them look really cool and all but I don't have the slightest clue how to initiate such a storm in this arid environment.
"O-Of course! I'll give it a try."
Okay me. Time to do something potentially really dangerous!
I laced my hands together and began the journey into my mind's eye. Thousands of portraits with memories flung in and out of my vision in rapid succession. Only the ones with the relevant information stayed behind. While it felt like a few minutes, only a second had passed in real-time. At the end what remained were two panels.
My mental manifestation of self floated over the first panel. I reached out my hand and gently tapped the pane. The image rippled from the point where my finger made contact until the entire pain broiled into motion. The scene gave way to turbulent violence drowning a strange foreign town with thunder crackling in the night sky.
Okay, that's neat. I have the visual depiction… Now just to figure out how actually make it happen.
I swipe my hand to the left, moving the thunderstorm out of view.
I repeat my actions on the second panel. Instead of the lively vision display of a thunderstorm that I had gotten before, words played out in a textbook in a language that I didn't immediately understand.
English…? Oh, not just English actually… I don't recognize the other one though. It's beautiful though, the lines and curves forming Glyphs. Anyway. Let us just start with what is available
Text from the book - "Thunderstorms created by just one convection cell in the atmosphere are called single-cell storms. Most of these are small, lasting only about an hour, and are also called ordinary thunderstorms. These storms often form during summer and include towering cumulonimbus clouds that can grow 12 kilometers high in the atmosphere. Rain and lightning are common. Sometimes hail falls."
…
That doesn't really help me… I guess I'll keep reading.
Two pages later - "All thunderstorms start with moisture and rising warm air. The warm, moist air immediately above the ground is less dense than the cooler, dryer air above, causing it to rise.
As it lifts, the water vapor it contains begins to cool and condense into water droplets. This causes a cloud to form and also releases heat, giving the air a boost as it continues its ascent, creating a powerful upward current. Within about 30 minutes or so, a towering cumulonimbus thundercloud builds up, reaching heights of up to 10km. The water vapor continues to condense inside the clouds by continuing to merge and grow.
During this process, ice particles form and merge as they continue to ride the Cumulonimbus structure upward. Together with the two forms of water and ice barrage the surface below in a sleet hail mixture. The vacuum left by the sudden departure creates a cold wind funnel streaming downward causing strong winds and a temperature drop.
All the while collisions between the ice and water forms knock electrons from the water droplets and lighter ice forms which are then transmitted to the heavier ice forms. This naturally causes a charge dissonance between the upper and lower strata which in turn causes the potential for lightning by creating the voltage necessary. Again, because of the negative charge of the cumulonimbus structure, it pushes away the grounds electrons which causes lighting to have a high potential to strike."
Okay… I think I get it.
Droplets of moisture filtered into realspace slowly and gradually. This fine level of motor control regarding manipulation of the elements was just something that I lacked experience with in any great detail. I had to get them just right so that they didn't actually form into droplets.
Imagining that the area in front of me was miniaturized between my hands, I put down a web of influence with threads connecting to my fingers. One small tweak here and another there and gradually I returned the droplets to vapor, spreading the mass I had summoned across the vista.
"Alright…!" I said to myself as I felt the wave brush against me in stark contrast to the arid winds of just a minute ago.
Now I need to expedite the process.
I pinched all my fingers together on my right hand and made a swift pulling motion upward while my left hand remained level, continuing to output the humid air. With my arm extended as far as it could, droplets could be observed at the apex of the tunnel I had made.
Cain watched with no display of emotion, which made me a bit uncomfortable as I didn't know if I was actually doing the right thing. Regardless, I withdrew both of my hands and closed the loop of mana so that the spells I had weaved would maintain their current functionality.
Thankfully the next part was the easiest bit.
With a flick of my wrist, I sent a ball of sub-zero ice above the mouth of the funnel. Thirty seconds later mad grey clouds frothed into existence, spreading till they completely covered the illusory sky. Only a minute later did the sleeting rain bless the sands around the oasis.
I walked forward and extended my hand out just far enough to feel the fruit of my labor. The swollen droplets crashed onto my skin like paintballs… Not that I know what that is but the memory and feeling just seem right. Still, I held my hand out. Of course most of the damage was blunted due to my subtly reinforcing my hand but I could feel the weight. I turned around to see if Cain's face had left the neutrality of observation behind.
"What do you think Master Cain? It's an artificial storm that'll self perpetuate for at least a day."
Cain didn't respond. He seemed more interested in observing the phenomena instead, so much so that his eyes didn't leave it once while.
I guess I did pretty dang good.
Gydion, who had been out of sight up until this point, casually clapped me in the back before giving me his pointless praise.
"Pretty interesting how you did that I'd say, not that I actually have the know-how to make sense of it."
"What good is your praise of my technique if you admit in the same sentence that you don't even know what you're looking at?"
I honestly didn't understand why he said that. Like, if he doesn't understand then does that just mean he's mocking me? He is being such an ass today for what reason?
"I don't have to know the level to see that what you did was pretty amazing. I've seen others do similar things but they've had a lot more experience than you. I guess it's just because you're actually a fleshy genius."
What's with the kindness all of a sudden… And here I was thinking that he was just gonna continue being mean. Well, it's not like that isn't true…
"Oh. Well, thanks then. Since you seem to mean it, I mean…"
Gydion then gets this look like "The hell? You thought I was takin' the piss?" and flips his wrist at me before pushing me.
"Hey. I may not be all that nice, but I've never once denied your capability."
I nodded with my own hands upturned.
"I guess so. I'm sorry."
Gydion let out a loud *Hmph* and backed off.
"This was interesting, but this wasn't what I had in mind Suzuka. Still, you did do something great in displaying a very fine level of manipulation of your magics as evidenced by your choice to rectify your initial mistake rather than cover it up with a new casting."
"Right. I'm sorry that It wasn't what you were looking for. This was just the first thing I thought of. Making is self-perpetuating I mean."
"I see. This certainly does have its uses and would free up the caster after the fact, but the volume of destruction I was looking for was lacking. Again this wasn't a fault on your part as you took what I said and made it fit the parameters as best as you could."
Cain walked over and patted my head reassuringly.
"I imagine that you also exhausted quite a bit of that excess energy so even better. You're free to leave. Make sure not to miss another session again though."
I pocketed both my hands and bowed with a smile before walking over to the door to leave. Gydion leaned inside the doorframe with his foot propping it open. The annoyance and offense were visible what with his brow cross and wrinkled. His glare proves the wordless display even more. As I approached he left the arch of the doorway, letting the door close behind him.
All I could do was sigh as I passed through, having to open the door myself.
"I wonder how long he's gonna stay pissy…"