While Tara was undergoing training within her Story, her natural body finalizes her first breakthrough as an Expert. This is the reason her energies in both the natural and virtual worlds were overdrawn, thanks to the feedback loop of her mind. Thankfully her Grandma Ahana has seen enough breakthroughs that Tempo was created to counteract the negative drain on a person's energies.
"The changes from within the pod are faster and more thorough than I thought. Tara won't have to go through a year-long adjustment period naturally, nor struggle to sync with virtuality." Ahana notes as she's paying attention to Tara's vitals and brainwaves.
Previously, when someone made a breakthrough into one of the three Expertises, it took at least a year's time for a person to get used to it. They become fundamentally different physically and mentally that they need to recalibrate their actions and senses. Furthermore, syncing these changes with their virtual body later was even harsher. This was why many sought to make a breakthrough in the virtual world first, such as Aster Fang, as the toll was lesser and the recovery time shorter.
Experts appearing at a young age, at least in terms of the upper organizations, was not entirely unheard. In fact, both Super Organizations and Ultra Guilds sought to raise their youths to that point. Hence the simulation combat training and classified physical regimens that had been developed over the last few decades. The rearing did have some results over time, but there wasn't any true way to determine who became what type of Expert. They could guess but really it lies with a person's own ability and understanding of themselves.
"I didn't want this path for her." Karuna admits with a frown as she looks over the data as well. While Tara had been raised in a relatively normal childhood despite her familial connections, her physical training, martial arts studies, and her dietary needs were meticulously crafted since her contraception.
Unlike other kids from large Guilds and Workshops, Tara did not partake in simulation training. In a way, her upbringing was an experiment to see if an Expert could truly be raised from birth without virtual influence. To see if it was innate talent that leads to a breakthrough or simply a case of the right nurturing?
Of the many grandchildren from Elders of Blueriver, Tara is the only who was not introduced to virtuality before Renovel. And now she is the first among them to become an Expert, while the others weren't even close to a breakthrough.
They likely would not be for a few more years.
"I know you didn't, but I and that old man were concerned about her being able to protect herself. Simply because we are at the top doesn't mean it can deter all of our enemies." Ahana sighs.
The early years of virtuality were looked fondly by many, except those at the center of those memories. Both she and Boying had fought to overcome corporations and forces of all types whether in the light or dark. They had witnessed a great many conflicts and lost many people in all sorts of ways in those first two decades.
Now at least her granddaughter had a means to defend herself. A target had already been placed on her back with her fight with the White Mountain boy, so there was no telling who might take action.
"Besides, it's not as if she's a monster like Boying who--" Ahana cut herself off as she watched Tara's brain activity spike wildly. Particularly the parietal lobe, the part of the brain that affects the senses. This wouldn't usually be a problem if it weren't for them having to refill the Tempo because Tara's body is rapidly absorbing it. This could only mean she was going through a dual breakthrough at the very start of her journey. And only one person on Earth has gone through that before in recent times...
Ahana slams a touchscreen before her, yelling to her employees. "I need Mental Breeze and Gold Body infused into Tara's pod right yesterday! We have a Code Red breakthrough and if something happens to my granddaughter, I'll have your heads!"
These were two high grade Tempos usually reserved for players of Tanisha and Guotin's level, along with the Elders of Blueriver. Now they had to rapidly add it to a pod which until now only had the tamer and lower grade Tempo flowing through it. One would stabilize Tara's mental state and the other would slow down the absorption rate for her body but with a higher amount of energy.
The moment the two liquids wash over Tara's body, unbeknownst to the staff or her mother and grandmother, it causes a necessary change in her virtual energies!
Tara's main body suddenly found it easier to assimilate the foreign energy from her former daggers. Her physical projection was suddenly revitalized and able to move under the heavy gravity, if only a little. Her spirit projection was not only able to transform her whole hand into light energy but her arm as well!
The biggest reaction came from the mental projection. The two colored arrays underneath her flash with power as she feels her blood begin to roil. It's not painful, more like an itch you can't scratch.
Tara feels her mind expand and the next thing she realizes, the scenery has changed. A desert full of red sand. A forest of green coral. An archipelago each with the color of the different elements. A lightning-covered but forgotten battlefield littered with powerful weapons. A lake of blue lava.
Pakeeja, Hanit, Izel, Aelix, and Asuka. She instinctively knew that these scenes were connected to her friends. Whether that was their current location or places they had yet visited, Tara wasn't sure. Each passed by in a fraction of a second before her vision was covered in white light.
Before her is a giant beast. Twin headed with a lion and a jaguar, the body of a tiger, forelegs of a puma but back legs of a panther, and the tails of the three types of leopards. Various constellations are etched on its monochromatic fur in place of stripes and patterns. Constantly moving as if the creature is the embodiment of a galaxy.
"So you've come." The beast spoke, turning away from the setting sky on the horizon of the cliff they were located on. The voice is matriarchal and tyrannical yet soft and resigned. Tara goes to speak but finds herself unable to. She's simply a viewer in this dream. Tara looks into the green eyes and follows their gaze behind them. A familiar woman with starry skin in white robes approaches with clasped hands.
"I'm sorry old friend. I finally bit off more than I can chew." The woman replies with a sad smile.
"How many milenia have I heard that? We both know no one in the universe can catch you if you put some effort into it." The beast counters with a shake of her head. "But if you truly wish to face this head on, I will gladly accompany you."
The memory begins to fade--but not before the starry woman seemingly looks in Tara's direction and then winks.
Tara is shuttled back to body, her eyes snapping open. The ceremony is over as she receives a notification!
[Bloodline Of The ???? Awakened! Dream Connect Has Become Dream Link!]
[Light + Darkness Abilities: + 50% Performance And Efficiency]
[Dream Link: Gain The World Coordinates Of Fellow Dreamers!]
Tara feels an unbridled energy coursing within her body, as if her mental energy has gone through a qualitative change. She pulls up the screen that was for Dream Connect previously, and true to the System, there are numbers next to the name but each World's name is all question marks.
"Oh? Tara, your eyes!" Mind Msiresta calls out, before pulling a clear crystal from the surroundings before fashioning it into a mirror in seconds. Instead of the brown tinted with the pink of mental energy, her eyes are a brilliant green. The same color as the beast Tara saw in the dream.
"Mirage Gaze?" The main body of Msiretsa gasps in surprise as the color fades. All of Tara's projections and the main body display this change for a moment.
"What does that mean?" Tara asks, concerned as she feels the incoming energy settle down.
"It means your Bloodline is stronger than I thought. It's a trait only given to the strongest of Light users. I've encountered it before but I don't know the details, so it's something you have to figure out by yourself." Msiretsa goes quiet with contemplation for a moment before continuing.
"For now, we'll work on the next step after the circulation of energy. Manifesting energy! While the rest finish forming your Nodes, I want you to form a weapon unique to yourself; something you wish you could forge but don't feel like you have the skill for currently."
As if she has been waiting for this moment, Tara pulls out from her spatial ring a piece of scroll paper. This was something she had thought of when she had first taken up forging and inscribing. It involved etching, which is where the inscriptions are carved into a material, creating a more stable and powerful effect. To even begin to start etching at a complex level, though, one has to be a Master Inscriber.
It would be a different story if all she had to do was think of what to make.
"Technically speaking, every being that can use aura is already doing a manifestation. The aura that covers your body is one, only it is passive. True manifesting of energy involves actively transforming your energies into a tangible form. This involves a strong concentration, visualization, and precision of your energy. It's even harder to give that energy a distinct shape while keeping it stable rather than forming a random attack."
Msiretsa demonstrates with a show of her aura first, then shoots a ball of Light and Darkness, then fires a sparrow to collide with the ball. Tara nods at her words, memorizing every part of the design she made some time ago.
After a few moments, a pair of monochromatic gloves with arm bracer sheathes appear. In the right holster is Sun Claw and in the left is Moon Fang, their length a little longer as shortswords. Tara retracts the blades and the holsters fold into the arm sheathes. Once that's done, Tara flexes her gloved fingers and now claws appear!
"Easily concealable as arm bracers with a mode for close combat and midrange? Clever! But what about--"
Sun Claw appears again before being shot off a good 30 meters. This was without any energy being used to further repel the weapon. Then as it reached its max distance, a blade ray shot from it going another 30 meters! It is here that Tara's new weapon disappeared, using all of its energy at once. Msiretsa grinning at her charge's innovation, how clever.
"I think with that, I'll call this first Node training session over." With a snap of her fingers, their various Node projections appear next to them. All of Msiretsa's look very proud behind the main body while all of Tara's are all now wearing dual colored clothing. Physical Tara in violet and lilac purple, Mind Tara in night black and phlox pink; Spirit Tara in cobalt blue and white!