CelestialShadow
patreon
Chapter 11 - Experimenting with space
🕑 Added 2023-11-22 15:20:05 +0000 UTCAdion was pretty exhausted when he finally returned to the area around the Red Royal apple tree that had almost become like a home for him for the past six months. The fight had been very short, but freezing space like that around a living being always took its toll. And the hours of running while controlling the frozen space with the dead wolf had been slowly tearing at both his physical and mental endurance. Carrying the carcass in space was not as complicated as moving it normally, but Adion still felt as if he had to carry its weight with his body, as if he suddenly weighed a lot more.
But Adion was not planning on resting yet. The successful hunt and thought of meat made him power through any fatigue.
He started cutting the carcass, and Adion thought he did an okay job at it. He wasn’t exactly experienced in butchering beasts, but since basically every mage goes to the Outskirts at least once and often many times during their life, the Remori family trained their young ones in stuff like this that might be a needed skill set in the Endless Forest. And Adion was thankful for that now.
He noticed the beast core in the chest of the dead beast. Unfortunately, an Iron beast core wasn’t worth much, even if he had a way of carrying it with him when he left. He just focused on the meat for now.
Adion had been collecting branches regularly as the nights had started getting cold, and he would light himself a fire most nights, so he quickly started a fire, conjuring the flames himself. He also decided to smoke much of the meat to save for a rainy day, which was much easier with Adion's improved fire control compared to when he had practiced in the Remori clan.
As Adion enjoyed the taste of fresh meat, he thought about the battle and how he had used his space mana.
It's not very versatile. My only way of attacking at the moment is by freezing space and attacking with my sword. I need some variety in case of a more prolonged fight. I want to get better at attacking using fire, but it takes all the Will I have to conjure up fire from pure mana. And it's a process that takes time, something I don’t have in a fight. Maybe I should train in order to decrease the time needed.
If I run into a much weaker beast, I could try fighting using fire. I don’t want to risk it in a real fight. My shadow mana control has gotten a lot better, but it’s still nothing I could use in a fight, and I know nothing about it. Maybe I haven’t given my shadow affinity as much attention as I should, but I think space and fire need to be a priority right now.
But could I figure out a way to use my space mana in a different way? Some kind of flame of fire but of space? No, I can’t conjure more space than a speck of dust, no chance of attacking with conjured space. Only by relying on my space Authority do I stand a chance. I can freeze space, but could I do the opposite? Like, make it extra easy to move through?
Adion gave it a shot but noticed it was much more challenging than keeping space still.
Well, I’m not sure how much use that would have been anyway. As long as my opponent is frozen in space, I can move as slow as I want. What else? Carry a weapon in space and throw it like I did with the wolf's body, but-. Wait!
Adion suddenly got struck by an idea that exhilarated him greatly. If he can lift and move around objects in space, can’t he do the same to himself?
Can I fly!?
Adion quickly covered himself in his space mana and tried to lift himself up in the air. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. It was like he couldn’t get a grip on how to lift himself. It was like how lifting a rock, even a heavy rock, with your body could be easily done, but lifting yourself was impossible. He felt that he would need some counterweight, just like he had felt himself get weighed down by the weight of the wolf's body.
Adion tried to gain control of the space in the earth under him and used that to push himself off. It actually worked a little, but he only got an inch into the air before feeling that he was tumbling to the side, losing his balance. And if he tried grabbing ahold of something further away, he felt that he had no strength to lift himself up. Like lifting a gallon of water in your hand was easy, but put it on the end of a stick and try to lift it away from you, and you would really struggle.
Adion felt that if he could get a hold of a large enough amount of space under him, he would be able to fly above it. Unfortunately, he could not control that much space. He only had some control of space in the size of a grown man still, even as he had advanced, the amount of space he had Authority over remained the same. Making Adion realize how useless he would have been without that wisdom pill.
Oh well, flying wouldn’t help me fight beasts that well anyway. But is there something else? Throwing rocks or weapons using frozen space and moving them around won’t be useful. It’s difficult to control and will be so slow that any beast would have plenty of time to move. It's much more efficient to throw stones myself in that case. But maybe that’s something to practice. I can see how that would be powerful if I manage to improve a lot.
Adion continued thinking for a while before finally stumbling upon an idea he had completely overlooked.
The Celestial Phoenix freezing space wasn’t the only power of space mana I have witnessed. After all, how did I get here if not by space mana? If I could use teleportation in a fight that would change everything, I would be able to appear behind the beasts out of nowhere, strike them from behind, and escape all kinds of attacks.
Adion once again released space mana of his now almost empty core and took control of a small region of space in front of him.
When I was on the teleportation formation in the treasury, I could feel as if I was in two places at once. My mana sense noticed the cave on the other side of the teleportation formation, and suddenly I was there. Could I do something similar?
Adion tried to attack the issue from different angles for about half an hour before giving up. He was now completely exhausted.
I will give it up for tonight. I will keep trying though, at least until I understand what needs to be done, like flying. If I keep trying, I think I can figure out how to picture the process correctly, and then I will know if it is possible.
After that, Adion put away the smoked meat and cleaned up the mess he made before going to bed for the night. He now had a nice wolf pelt that would keep him warm in the coming winter, but for tonight, Adion was fine with only the fire burning next to him.
The next day, Adion got up and meditated as he couldn’t slack off even for a day if he wanted to get strong fast. After that, he ate some of the few remaining apples before heading out towards the deeper parts of the forest again.
He aimed to go to the same area as yesterday in the hope of finding more Gray Wolves of similar strength as the one he found yesterday. Unfortunately, he spent the whole day searching in vain as he had to return when night approached.
Adion didn’t give up, though; in the coming days, he continued searching in that part of the forest. On the third day, he finally got lucky and found and easily killed a low Iron Gray Wolf. It was a welcome addition to his meat supply.
Adion didn’t know if it snowed in these parts, but if it did, he wanted to build up a large food reserve. In that case, he might be able to stay in the cave with the formation during the harshest part of the winter and solely focus on meditation and improving his strength.
Everything seemed to be looking up for Adion as the next two weeks were spent hunting Gray Wolves, and every day, he would bring back a new supply of meat. The toughest wolf he had to fight was still only peak Iron, and Adion had managed to kill that one as easily as the low Iron one. As long as he was prepared and reacted in time, Adion only needed to swing his sword fast enough not to let the wolves escape his space prison. Something that seemed to work just as well against the stronger Irons.
But as Adion was growing comfortable in his new routine, he stumbled upon a situation that he wasn’t prepared for.
Adion was walking through the same area in the woods as always when suddenly he heard something rushing towards him. He hadn’t felt its presence but didn’t panic and quickly focused his senses on the approaching beast.
A Yellow Flame Boar! Damn, it’s in the middle Bronze stage.
Adion had no way of running, though, and he was much better at fighting than when he fought the two monkeys almost three weeks ago. So he quickly focused the space mana under his control in front of him and got ready to strike. Employing the same tactic as against the Gray Wolves, he froze the space around the boar as soon as it came in range. Unfortunately, the boar was not only at a higher stage than the wolves but also much bigger, reaching a bit above Adion in height. And it carried a huge momentum, so big that Adion couldn’t keep it frozen for a moment before it rammed on ahead. Fortunately, Adion had stopped its speed to a large degree, and the sudden force that the boar hadn’t experienced before made it back out of the plan of piercing Adion with its tusks. Which was lucky as that would have definitely required a healing pill if Adion wanted to survive it. Instead, the boar jumped back in a slight panic and shot out a burst of flames at Adion through its snout.
Beasts generally have stronger bodies than mages at the same stage, as well as an innate aura sense. But their mana sense and control is pretty awful compared to sapi. But that didn’t mean all of the beasts were useless in magic, and though the control of the conjured fire of the boar might have been poor, a large ball of flames shot at close distance was always a threat. So Adion quickly jumped out of the way, falling to the ground. The fire hit the ground behind him, and the boar once again charged to pierce Adion with its tusks.
Adion tried to get up as quickly as possible, but the boar was fast. Just as he got to his feet, the boar was there, and though Adion managed to block the sharp tusk with his sword somewhat, the boar’s sheer momentum caused Adion to fly back and land roughly on the ground.
This is bad. I can’t stop it. The boar is too strong and carries insane momentum. But what should I do?
Just then, Adion noticed warmth from his side. He turned and saw that the fire attack from the boar he had dodged had managed to catch on and was now devouring the bush next to him.
Wait a minute. The boar has let go of this fire with its Will. It's now just normal fire acting along the Will of the world. I won’t stand a chance wrestling for control against a Bronze beast’s Will, but this is just normal fire now.
Adion noticed the boar charging again and quickly took control of part of the fire using his Will. He felt how that fire now was under his complete control, the Will of the world barely fighting him over it thanks to the wisdom pill he had taken. So he quickly manipulated it on the face of the boar and used all his Will to make it burn the boar. And just like he had managed to make fire burn even on plain stone when he first got this power, the boar suffered greatly from the fire that only heeded Adion's Will.
The boar released a high squeal of pain and stopped its charge as it started to shake its head and get rid of the fire. Adion could feel that a Will contended his fire and had to push his Will hard to keep his control. Usually, it would be hard to gain control of another's fire, but this was actively burning the boar, which made this very close to the sanctity of a living being's body, making this a real struggle for Adion.
Adion tried to hold on to his Will over the fire burning the boar's face. He could see how it started to burn the boar, and Adion ran over to strike with his sword, but the boar was swinging around wildly, and Adion had no chance to get close. He could also feel the fire slowly slipping from his grip, so he decided to gamble. He ran towards the boar, and just before he arrived, he let go of the fire and focused all his Will on his space mana surrounding the boar. As he jumped at the boar that now had the fire under its control and off its face, he focused all the Will he had and froze the space around it. As the boar was still and had no momentum for Adion to stop, it was a lot easier, even if it was difficult. But it was enough to hold it in place for half a second, enough for Adion to pierce the side of its head with his sword.
The boar almost immediately collapsed, and Adion sat down soon after, completely exhausted. He took a few minutes of rest before making a decision. He had no energy left to carry this heavy boar using his Will and did not want to stay out here in his weak state. So he simply got up and left the dead beast for the beasts in the forest to feast on.
He tried to use all his remaining energy to run back to safety. He wasn’t injured, but his Will was exhausted, and every minute spent in the forest was a risk in his weak state, so he tried to hurry as much as he could.
When he finally returned, he simply laid down and rested by his favorite apple tree. He considered everything that had happened in the fight and was, in the end, extremely pleased. Even if he had been lucky with the fire, he had still managed to defeat a beast that was one whole stage above him. A middle Iron mage had defeated a middle Bronze beast.
But Adion knew he wouldn’t have stood a chance against a beast of that caliber if not for the free use of fire. But it was a good feeling nonetheless.
Adion rested for a while longer before meditating and then going to sleep. He decided that he would go out again to hunt the morning after, even if it were dangerous. Adion had enough food for a while now. However, he still thought it better to fight now than in the peak of winter, where he might have to travel back to the mountain every day through the snow and fight beasts who might be accustomed to that climate while Adion would be severely handicapped.
And the next morning, he went out again like he had promised himself the previous day. Luckily, there was no Yellow Flame Boar to fight, and Adion managed to bring back the carcass of a low Iron Gray Wolf.
