Chereads / Phantom Lord: First Throne of Horrors / Chapter 8 - Basic Applications, Proficiency

Chapter 8 - Basic Applications, Proficiency

The freely floating dreamy blob of spirit energy was separated into four unequal parts, all showing different effects.

'Wow, what is this?'

[You can manifest spirit energy in four ways, and this shows you your compatibility with spirit energy's Manifest principle. The four types of manifestation are Emission, Manipulation, Conjure, and Transmute.]

'Oho?' Aeron's interest was piqued. 'Looks like it's time to do some magic stuff.'

Lapis chuckled and continued. 

[1st part of the spirit energy is glowing and pulsing with a golden hue—It's Emission: Your ability to detach spirit energy from your body and keep it active.]

[2nd part of the spirit energy is causing air to gather around it because it's actively manipulating it on its own—It's Manipulation: Your ability to manipulate animate or inanimate objects with spirit energy]

[3rd part of spirit energy is reacting to the atmosphere of this hill and is turning black and cursed—It's Conjure: your ability to create objects from Spirit energy.]

[4th part if spirit energy is turning red and black. It gained blood and dark attributes due to this dark hill and some nearby deaths of animals around you—Transmute: Your ability to change the quality and property of spirit energy to something else.]

'Wonderful,' Aeron's eyes shone. He was surprised at the potential of this power but also excited!

He focused on those four parts of spirit energy, but they immediately joined together when he exerted his control and returned to normal.

[You have to do some training to learn the four Types of spirit energy. Moreover, do you know why they unequally parted?]

'Why?'

[Since it's your spirit energy, it shows your talent in handling each Type of Spirit energy manifestation. Your Manipulation took the biggest chunk, meaning that your talent in Manipulating is higher than the rest.]

[The second highest is Transmute, and the other two are roughly the same.]

'I see.'

[Open your status. You'll see some new additions that you've learned.]

'Oh?' Aeron raised his eyebrows and thought of opening his status. Immediately, it popped up in a frame before his eyes.

[Open that new Proficiency tab.]

Aeron indeed saw a new tab [Proficiency] in this panel at the end.

|_Phantom Spark—Aeron_|

-[Phantom Points]: 20

-[Spiritual Power]: 1471 — [1,330 / 1,471] spirit energy.

-[Curse Power]: 15,930 — [15,109 / 15,930] curse energy.

-[Phantom Ability]: 1

—> Gong-Fish.

-[Phantom Gear]: 1

—> Blood Ripped Spear.

Aeron readily opened the tab by focusing on it.

—> Veil: 27%.

—> Enchant: 78%.

—> Emission: 24%.

—> Conjure: 21%.

—> Manipulation: 89%.

—> Transmute: 56%.

—> Specialism: 99%.

'Specialism? It's so high. What happens when I reach 100% in it?'

[For that, finish the second and last basic application of Curse energy—Specialism.]

[This characteristic of Curse power is related to your emotions, desires, your mental state, your way of life, and development. Specialism in a simple sense is expressing Curse power to use curse energy and give it a 'Special' effect that is related to 'Yourself'.]

Aeron smiled and nodded, 'Nice. I don't understand.'

[I know this doesn't tell you anything, but that's how it is. I don't know your 'Specialism', so you'll have to use Curse Energy in tandem with Spirit energy to make it appear. You're close to 100% proficiency in your Specialism, so it will soon appear.]

[And for that, it's time to hunt some E-grade and D-grade Haunts in this dark hill.]

'Nice. I already detected two Haunts within thirty meters of my position,' Aeron nodded and summoned his Blood Ripped Spear.

[No. You will not hunt these Haunts with your weapon.]

Lapis smiled.

[You will hunt them using Emission, Enchant, and Manipulation, without moving from your current position.]

'What?'

[Yep. So, let's start.]

[Emit 100 spirit energy from your body, and manipulate it into a palm-sized sphere.]

Aeron put away his spear back to the invisible inventory in his body thanks to Phantom Spark, and focused.

'100 spirit energy….'

Aeron focused and pulled a chunk of spirit energy from his source before channeling it from his body while being in control of it.

After a few seconds, Aeron looked at the palm as a white-gold spirit energy surface in an uneven shape.

He controlled it, manipulating his spirit energy into a perfect palm-sized sphere that rested on his palm.

'Cool.'

[Now, enchant it with your curse energy. Unlike your body, the more curse energy you infuse in this sphere and condense, the stronger it will be. However, the more energy you infuse into it, the harder it will be to control the sphere. So, do it steadily and track your control.]

[To kill the E-rank Haunt near you in one shot, you will need to infuse 100 Curse energy in the sphere.]

Aeron's eyes gleamed dark purple as he readily began the process.

He channeled curse energy in the sphere, causing the white-gold sphere to turn glowing violet.

Aeron even saw some river-like flow in the sphere and almost lost control, but he succeeded in the end.

[Since your Proficiency in Manipulation is high, you should be able to manipulate this Power Sphere.]

Lapis grinned.

Aeron nodded as he controlled the sphere around with ease.

[Good. Now kill that E-grade Haunt from here with this sphere.]

'Wait, wait….I can't do that. I can only sense Haunt's distance and its aura, but I can't see trees, plants, and other stuff. This sphere will hit other things before it hits the Haunt,' Aeron wryly smiled.

[Indeed. That's why you will have to learn 'Field'. Create a Veil, but not stuck to your body's surface. Instead, create it around your body like a round field. Afterward, infuse it with curse energy and make it bigger. This way, everything within 'Field' will be detected by you, even a blade of grass, while your body and aura will become invisible to normal senses in the field.]

Aeron's eyes shone. 'That's awesome.'

Without further ado, Aeron closed his eyes and consumed 100 spirit energy to create a 'Veil' around him with a thin equal layer and then infused 50 curse energy, making the Veil faint violet as it expanded under Aeron's control.

[The Field's range and shape depends on you. The type of Field also varies. Basically, this technique is used for multiple purposes that you will come to find, mainly regarding Detection. But for now, you are good to go. The consumption of energy is higher in Field due its use, but that's expected.]

'Mhmm, It's not growing past 84 meters of radius around me even if I infuse more Curse energy.'

[You need to improve your 'Veil's proficiency for that. Your control of Curse energy gives a boost as well, but it depends on both. Haha, this is your current limit, and it's good enough.]

'Alright.'

Aeron smiled and licked his lips. 'It's time to kill that Haunt.'

Closing his eyes, Aeron saw and sensed everything within his Field. 

The violet orb zoomed past trees, grass, and rocks before squarely hitting a two-headed red deer Haunt with black patterns that were eating another deer.

*Splat!*

The sphere exploded upon impact and created a big hole that destroyed half of its body, causing the Haunt to turn into motes as it died.

[E-grade Haunt purified. You have gained 10 Phantom Points.]