Even a novice player recognized how fluid and unrestrained her movements had been with many marveling at her strength. Tara's match against Kristen immediately causes waves in Renovel:
The top experts and their backers that had been waiting on the sidelines finally flock to Renovel looking to tap into the potential of Story mode. 2nd rate Guild Captains were ordered by their organizations to gift or trade any rare items found so far to their teammates and immediately recreate a new Story character.
Fear seeps into the hearts of ordinary players and a frenzy to level up faster begins because who knows how strong Novelists would be if they cross over into the Adventure side of things.
Luckily enough, during most duels the player's information and identity could be hidden when recordings were sent out. Unless they were immensely popular and recognizable, most would go by faceless and nameless. Because of this Tara isn't aware of the changes she's created when she returns to her Story after finishing her homework. She's more curious about finally starting her meditation on the ancient power.
Tara finally begins to study the movement techniques left to her. This was the final part of what she had organized. Movement techniques were how warriors and aurators crossed distances, the most basic one called a flicker step. They move at such a speed that commoners assume they flicker from one place to another. Tara focuses on the one she had used to escape the chamber first and defeat Kristen.
It is described to her as Sunny Dance. With Light traveling faster than even Lightning, this solar skill could move Tara even farther in less time. It also had a bonus effect in a battle of being dazzling and disarming. It was easier to understand because she had used it already and had begun forming a solar thread earlier. Moonlight Prowl, the other movement technique, was harder because she hadn't circulated nor gathered enough lunar energy. She'd have to find a way to channel lunar energy and master this other movement technique.
After her seclusion days were over, Tara began her auxiliary practices to put what she had learned into motion.
Body Arts and Weapon Arts training were to strengthen her physical energy whereas alchemy and inscription making focused on her spiritual energy. Body Arts with Elder Xaei and Weapons Arts with Elder Jin, two members of her family's counsel, came easily to her.
The four main weapons used by martial artists were referred to as the cardinal weapons: axes for the north, sabers for the south, spears for the east, and finally staves for the west. Tara personally felt she can't find one that she felt was right for her out of these.
Elder Jin, on the other hand, is impressed by Tara's adaptability and how she flows with each weapon. When the Matriarch had asked her to teach Tara, Elder Jin had initially thought it was Shuyren playing favorites but now she saw it was the opposite. Tara had a true talent that hadn't been seen since Di was a child.
Between alchemy, inscriptions, and forging, the first option had to be Tara's weak point. Because she hadn't broken into Skin Igniting, Tara's memory was not yet photogenic and she had trouble remembering the ever-varying ingredients, recipes, and gestures. This was why Shuyren had implored her to write everything down after a seclusion section. She struggles with the material fusing with inscriptions but for symbol painting, Tara has watched her grandmother make them before. Forging by the end of the week was by far her favorite of the three studies.
This is similar to when she would later start teaching her cousin and sister: it is a form of mental training. Technically, alchemy and inscription could also be considered mental training as well but forging is superior because it involves all three energies. Elder Zaigo said that eventually, he'd help Tara make her own weapons! Right now it was the basics of how to handle a forge, what metals work well together, and safety.
Afterward, Tara leads Zawen and Chun to a courtyard close to their rooms. The two girls had gotten close after bonding in this new environment for the past several days. They were excited when they found out Tara would be teaching them from now on. Tara, herself, had spent some of her research making a plan.
First, she would have each girl touch a crystal to determine which energy fit them. Zawen favors solar energy while Chun favors lunar. She has them practice gathering the energy until she sees a flicker of their auras.
With Zawen, Tara estimates that by next week, her aura might appear. For little Chun, at least two weeks from now. This is because Chun needs to stabilize her aural energy. Currently, her psychic and spiritual energy is equally powerful but her physical energy is weak.
To compensate for this, Tara had them both do some simple exercises during her seclusion days. One set of twenty-five push-ups, curl-ups, and squats each. This was followed by running the perimeter of the mansion. On Umbraday, when Tara gave in her report of her findings, Tara asks one of Chun's moms to keep a lookout. Kohra, who Tara apologetically did not have a movement technique to master yet, offers to watch over them.
Another month passes within the game quickly, with Tara eagerly keeping Karuna updated on what was happening with her training. One exciting thing she learns from Renee and Qisma is that Adventure Mode players could only focus on one sub profession called a Trade. Unlike these Artisans as they were called, Tara as a Story Mode player was less restricted and free to practice alchemy, scrollwork, and forging.
In that month, since Tara was adamant about using the Twin Sphere energy, Shuyren decides that each week Tara could alternate the hours she went into seclusion. This was to force her granddaughter to actually relax on the eighth day. Tara's auxiliary practices and teaching did not change but the channeling of the energies allows her to not feel too exhausted.
Slowly, she feels the Twin Sphere energy growing stronger within as two threads of amber and turquoise grew ever thicker and durable. During the second week of that month, at the same time Chun finally makes a breakthrough to use aural energy properly, Tara finally comprehends the lunar movement skill. Moonlight Prowl was good for traveling short distances silently.
Every Umbraday, Casian would visit his daughters and every time they would try to get information about their mother out of him. He would then challenge them to a spar or show off something that they had learned that week.
When he fought with Tara with a wooden practice sword, they always broke because he wanted to show Tara how lunar energy could be applied in battle. From these bouts, Tara learns that lunar energy was similar to psychic energy!
Tara figures that once she went through this portion of memories, the blockade in her mind would fall away. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case. So with the last two weeks and her increasing energies, Tara spends her seclusion time familiarizing the information and attempting to understand eclipse light.
Once she broke into the Skin Igniting stage, she could transfer everything from her notebooks onto something more secure with her aural energy, like diamond scrolls.
On the first day of the next month, a messenger returns with news to Shuyren. Having set up several camps along the way so that information can be relayed easier, Tara and Casian were present when he gave his report.
According to the messenger, several of their group were returning injured. As for what state they were in and who it was, that was unclear. The messenger is allowed to rest within the Matriarchal mansion before returning towards his station.
It was on this day that the twin moons were visible in the daytime sky. Sunset was occurring just as Tara was finishing up her Monday seclusion. The sky became harrowing purple as something told Tara to circulate both her energies to their limits.
She had asked each of her teachers and her grandmother what it felt like when Skin Igniting was broken through. They had all described the same: the gathered energy would generate a gentle warmth that coated your skin to the start of a bodily cleanse through sweat. When it was completed, the body would feel as if it had stepped out of a hot bath.
This was completely unlike that as twilight began to gather within her room. Energy wafts around her like purple flames and as a blaze suddenly rages from within Tara's young body. A reddish-brown ichor seems to leak from her pores and onto her bed.
She lets out a resounding roar as the purple energy wraps around her like ribbons on a present. Her aural energies battle inside her body as the smallest threads of lunar and solar growing larger the more they are revolved.
Then the energy blasts out from within Tara and a pulse of the white light of her aura is covered in a purple twilight as it shoots through the entire building.
Tara quickly leaps off the bed, her skin feeling like it was on fire. She concentrates for a moment on her energies and, while her Twin Sphere threads weren't the same size as her aural ones, they had grown by a lot.
Tara quickly focuses on her mind and sure enough, the wall has been broken through. Just before she could peek, however, a scream from next door met her ears!
Moments earlier, the messenger from earlier was snooping around. He was Shepi Xia from the Shepi family, masters of weapon forging. He happened to be a midtier Blood Directing mystic, someone good at using psychic energy.
After returning members from his clan from the ruin fight had described the Hufang's Di as an unstoppable monster--even giving the Martial Academy students a beat down--he had been sent to infiltrate the Hufang family. He was feeling pretty proud of himself for tricking even the Matriarch with his skills.
Suddenly, a burst of energy blew through the building! Whatever had caused it was surely connected to Di's new source of strength. He tracked it down to the other side of the complex. There was a choice between the rooms so he just chose the one closest to him, the right. This happened to be little Chun's room and she screamed as the unfamiliar man entered!
Before he could even attempt to silence her, the chill of death goes down his spine. He turns around to find another young girl. She is clearly the same age with an even darker complexion than the one in the room. How had she snuck upon him? His mental sense extended almost through the whole house!
He then realizes that his hand was shaking with fear. Something about her eyes was akin to facing an Aural Beast well above his level. But that was unfathomable? This was only a little girl who wasn't even--wait. Impossible!
The image of a giant white tiger appears behind her and he almost collapses from its deadly gaze alone. With a mighty roar, his eyes roll back and he passes out.
Tara's confused as the man faints from her presence. Then her grandmother appears beside her with a look of fury and disgust. Tara realizes that Shuyren has attacked his mind! In the month that had passed, Shuyren had gone from midtier Vein Plating to high tier! How could she not sense an enemy Blood Directing mystic in her lands?