Chapter 16: 12. Perception (Part 2)

Earlier in the day there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, but now there was a light rain. The twin suns were still visible as the clouds didn’t manage to cover the sky entirely.

Rai went over to the field. The rain was softly pattering down around him. While fiddling with his black bands, he thought about the things he would need to make sure this worked. First, he released 10% of his mana, just so he would have enough to work with in case 5% wasn’t enough. Rai sought to feel the energy currently surging through him. Then, he could feel the weight of that energy double.

The first thing he needed to test was what he learned from Ms. Talvier. Jin and Kallad’s advice made sense after he figured it all out, but it was Ms. Talvier who somehow helped it click with a cooking analogy. From her words, he figured out that he wasn’t keeping everything balanced. He was trying to augment his body, but wasn’t augmenting his eyes and mind in the same way.

To start off with, just like last time, Ria externally manifested lightning. First he had lightning shoot off from the tip of his finger into the sky. Then he coated himself in lightning energy. Familiarising himself with the sensation, he moved onto the next step.

This time, Rai searched for the neurons in his brain, and the neurons connecting his mind and his eyes. He took that familiar sensation of lightning flowing through his muscles, but he redirected it into his mind and eyes.

The world paused.

Or did it slow down?

Rai could still see the raindrops falling, but they fell much slower now than they would normally. He could see each individual raindrop. The leaves swaying on the trees in the distance were moving at a slow crawl. So this is what he meant by improving my Perception. To be able to perceive more within the same amount of time. Rai thought back to Jin’s advice as he watched the raindrops fall. He noticed a reflection of his face in one of the raindrops that fell directly in front of him. His eyes were now inverted. The whites of his eyes were blue, and the blues of his eyes were pure white. Well, that’s different. It hit him that he would no longer know what a second felt like when in this state, so timing things would be somewhat difficult.

He wanted to see if he could lower the intensity, so he softened the lightning that was flowing into his mind and eyes, relieving some of the drain on his mana reserve.

The world sped up.

But it still wasn’t full speed.

In fact, he’d succeeded entirely. This was a lever for him to tune based on how much he needed to see in a given time. He noticed in another raindrop’s reflection that the pure white in his eyes was still there, but dimmer than before.

He released it completely. The world returned to its normal pace.

Rai wanted to cheer, he wanted to yell about how amazing he was. Most of all, he wanted to go and give Ms. Talvier a big hug. This was a massive achievement for him, and a big step towards his goal. But he’d only completed half the job.

He would, however, allow himself a moment of celebration. Rai thought about how his aunt had names for spells she used often, so he tried to come up with a name for this new Perception magic he came up with. It wasn’t exactly a spell that one would cast, but a state of being. It also required a constant flow of lightning to his eyes and brain. As if it wanted to burst out of his mouth, Rai spoke instinctively, “Flow State.”

Its familiarity already entrenched, he entered Flow State at the mention of the term. Rai then swiftly exited Flow State so he could ready himself to attempt his lightning augmentation again.

He walked over to the three rows of shallow holes in the ground. Puddles of water were now present in each of them. Hopefully there’s no fourth, I can’t have Jin laugh at me like that again.

Rai stood next to the third row, mentally preparing himself.

Augmenting his body with lightning and maintaining Flow State was not going to be easy. So he gave himself a limit. A single step. That’s all he wanted to take for now.

Flow State. The world slowed around him. The rain almost stopped entirely. He was maintaining the maximum level of Flow State that his body could handle right now.

Rai imbued lightning into his muscles, like he did on his first try. He was able to look down now, to see trails of white lightning and sparks coming off of his body. He could move his arms to match the speed of his Perception. He took a breath. Okay, let’s go. Rai raised his right foot and pushed off with his left.

He took a step.

The lightning tendrils around him flared, and he landed on his right foot. He looked back and saw where he stepped from, multiple metres away. His muscles were crying out, though not as much as when he first tried this. I can take another step. I have to take another step.

He pushed off his right foot for a second step.

Rai landed on his left foot, moving the same amount of distance as the first step. His muscles were aching, but not any more than when he took the first step. More. I want to go more!

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Rai took a third step.

And fell over.

He had mana to spare, but his mana channels weren’t developed enough to sustain the concentrated drain on his mana reserves for this long. Rai knew he could develop his mana channels further given more time, and according to his aunt he was yet to go through the years where they grew explosively. His muscles were heavily aching, but Rai was extremely satisfied. He lay on the ground with a huge smile on his face, and started laughing.

Relief washed over him as the rain splashed on his face. He’d finally done it. Rai never knew that you could feel so satisfied. What a day. He thought with a grin, as he laid on the wet ground with rain lightly splashing all over him.

A shadow loomed over him. “Good job kid, did my advice help?”

Rai’s utter joy was replaced with utter confusion. “What the hell are you doing here?”

Kallad raised his hand to cover his mouth, as if he was in shock, “Is that any way to speak to your future father-in-law?”

Rai blushed, “Why does everyone keep saying stuff like that...”

“HAHAHA! You should see the look on your face right now!” Kallad started laughing. “You’re too young to be my son-in-law just yet. Grow stronger, and more handsome, then maybe I’ll allow it.” He sat on the ground next to Rai.

Rai knew how exchanges with Kallad went. “Do I need to ask the questions or are you just gonna answer them before I do?”

“Well, first of all, you really fell for my trick didn’t you.”

Rai thought back to Ms. Talvier, and how she seemed more talkative than usual. “I thought something was off, but I couldn’t tell it wasn’t her.”

“Actually I put you under a complete illusion, you didn’t even move from the spot you sat in. Whipping up the stew for you to take home was a nice touch though, if I do say so myself. Which I do.” The Deceiver gave himself a pat on the back.

Rai slowly turned his head to Kallad, “You really love playing your role don’t you. Speaking of which, why on Zenith is an Aspect sat in my backyard?”

Kallad put on a heavy face, “I’m just here to check up on my little protégé. You wouldn’t mind as much, would you?” Kallad was fond of the boy, and wanted to see how far he progressed over the last year. “From what I’ve seen, you’re doing wonders. Especially now that you’ve finally figured out how to use that... what do you call it?”

As if it were second nature already, Rai replied, “Stormflow.”

Kallad let out a low whistle, “Fancy name. Very hard hitting, and it fits the technique well. You wanna know what tier it is?” He rapidly raised and lowered his eyebrows, which was more confusing to Rai than anything.

Rai ignored the eyebrows and focused on his excitement, “Yes! Is it at least epic? There’s no way it’s rare, I spent too long figuring it out for it to be on the same level as other rare techniques.”

Kallad clicked his fingers with the sparks one would see if a flame was ignited. Relief washed over Rai. His muscles were no longer aching, and his mana channels felt rejuvenated. “It’s legendary.”

Rai was in the process of getting up, only to fall back down on his butt, causing a splash of the rainwater that gathered on the ground. “You’re kidding me. I can’t even use it for that long, so how is it a legendary technique?”

Kallad shrugged nonchalantly, “It’s got infinite potential. That’s what distinguishes a legendary technique from the rest. The more you use the technique, the more your mana channels will get used to it. That’ll allow you to maintain it for a longer time, or even increase its intensity later down the line.” Kallad gave Rai some more advice, “Now comes the hard part, you need to learn to fight within that state. If you can practice the Sword Dance within Stormflow every day, slowly increasing Stormflow’s intensity as you do it, then you’ll reach a crazy powerful level. Do that alongside your clan Sage’s teachings, and you’ll improve beyond the scope of what you imagined to be possible.”

Rai eyed the Deceiver, “Why are you helping me so much?” He knew Kallad wasn’t like what his aunt described Aspects to be, but this was completely beyond expectations.

Kallad leaned back and looked into the sky, the rain wasn’t falling onto him, but seemed to be rolling down an invisible barrier around him. “Because you’re going to be my future son-in-law. Oh, and do send her messages when you can.” He chuckled, and his body flickered into flames that died down as they were assaulted by raindrops. His laugh was now a distant echo.

Rai turned his head up to look into the sky, “What a strange man. What does that mean anyway, send her messages?” He felt that Kallad was looking out for his best interests though, regardless of what he might say. Rai decided he would follow Kallad’s advice, and learn to do the Sword Dance while in Stormflow.

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