Aeres Academy - Chapter 23 preview

Sadly, I – really, no one – got a chance to listen to Brand’s explanation of his skill to Watcher Ramone Flynn. Our latest trainer was very thorough in enforcing the privacy that was demanded by Brand. What he did do, was send us to separate rooms as we provided details of our skills. 

Most of us were split into various, disparate groups in the training hall, then sent to massive classrooms that had long tables and chairs within. Those that desired privacy were ushered into smaller, closet-like rooms that were even smaller than our residences, with barely enough space for a chair.

Passive skill users like myself got to sit in the room and wait. Active users were split more finely, into the type of active skills in play. Those that had multiple skill types were allowed to choose which skill they intended to focus their training upon today, though words of warning – and recommendation – had been issued that such users should consider switching it up, to at least learn the basics of training for both.

Truth be told, I was certain that I could likely have learnt a little from the active skill use side, but since the main characteristic of Conserve was its passive nature, I decided to focus upon that for now. The nine of us passive users were stuck in a room by ourselves.

“Let us begin,” Ramone said, hands crossed in front of him. “Much of your training over the next few weeks will be one of visualization. Unlike active users who must learn how to control the way their power moves through them, how it flows outward – and how to then adjust that skill use afterwards, if it is a projectile based skill – you will be visualizing the power within you. From there, you will attempt to add levers to your skill such that it may be manipulated.” 

More than one noviate shifted in their seat, uncomfortable to be in here with so many others. Wondering if…

“You will not need to reveal your skill to others. If you wish, we can discuss your skill details individually.” A pause, before he continued. “However, I want to dissuade you from such secrecy, at least in this room. Passive skills are the most difficult to manage, for grasping their workings on a conscious level is problematic.” A hand rose, touched his heart. “The same way your heart beats without conscious choice, your skill works. In this, you will be working to visualize and control the beat of your heart consciously.” 

“But why do we have to tell the others?” a young girl asked, probably one of the youngest in class. I recalled her absently from earlier today, one of those that had given up early.

“Because you can help one another.” Ramone paused, swept his gaze over us and rolled his eyes. “You must learn to let go of your secretiveness. Do you think you’ll be able to hide your skills, from us? From your classmates? Your teammates? Over a year, you will work together. The observant will guess, they will understand what you can do.”

“Exploit it,” the girl muttered.

“What’s your name, girl?”

“Winter.” 

“Well, Winter – if you do well in my class, you’ll always be progressing your skill. Pushing the boundaries of what you can do, so that those who believe they know the extent of your skill will be mistaken.” He gestured out the single window at the back, continuing. “Those outside, they hide their skills because they never learn to use them properly.

“You will. Or you will fail.” 

Winter, that raven-haired girl, pressed her lips tightly at the last few sentences. Judgmental as the teacher might be, he was not wrong. Most people never pushed their skills, did not have the knowledge or ability to do so. It was why I had joined the academy after all – to get this very training. 

Objections dealt with, we dove into the training method he recommended with alacrity.

The first visualization exercise given to us was that of a placid lake located in our torso – or chest – region, one with inflows from the world around and an outflow from the drain of our skill and the linked spaces. In theory, the geography around the lake was our body, the lake water the energy we had to utilize that collected and flowed from the world around us and the core into the lake, while the streams leading away were the orb draws and our own skill.

Once a skill user was able to form that visual in their mind, they were to utilize a series of breathing exercises to connect the mental image to their own skill. The vast majority of those here had managed that, though some found their connection more sporadic than others.

After we had a firm connection between mental and physical, it was a matter of digging deeper channels, adding gates and dams alike. It was the same kind of visualization technique that most active skill users utilized and was the type taught to children when they were young. There were, however, drawbacks to the visualization method.

It was hard to increase the speed and degree of world energy – mana – into the body with this method. Of course, in general, the amount of mana that could be safely drawn in was fixed to a certain extent, with increases slowly undertaken. However, this gradual increase might not have worked for passive skill users who – unlike their counterpart active users – continually drained their lakes. In addition, certain active skills benefited from increased energy regeneration rates.

The second flaw of the visualization technique was that “deepening” the pool was difficult, which was mostly to do with the visualization aspect for most users. They could not imagine the process of dredging a lake, especially if they had not been lucky enough to watch a skill user at work. More likely, they would utilize dams -– built up around the lake – which brought its own problems, as it increased the size of the core.

And depending on the monsters one faced, attacks against the pool or core of energy at deeper levels were not unheard of.

The visualization method also failed to take into account the way the constant draw from linked orbs – like the one in the academy, the one leading to the city, household orbs, etc. – worked to strengthen our skill. It, in fact, made such improvements worse. 

As you could guess, my feelings on the visualization method utilized were less than kind. I never felt that it worked for me, even though it was similar to the qigong visualization exercises I had studied in my past life. Intuitive though it might have been to build that visualization of my skill and body, it had too many limitations.

Walking around us, Ramone’s eyes glowed with a purple light as he took in our efforts. I wondered what he saw, if he could visibly see our cores or could read our minds. When he found something to say, he would offer a few comments. 

“Deepen your lake. You’re overflowing.”

“Widen your branch outwards, your connection to the academy core is too narrow. The backup will hurt you, if you do not learn to adjust your visualization to meet your needs.”

“Try instead a bonfire. You might find that method better.”

Then, finally, he reached me. A single eyebrow rose, as those purple eyes regarded me. When he spoke, it was flat, no direct accusation in his voice or words.

“You are not using the lake visualization.”

“No,” I said.

“Do you think you can ignore my instructions then?”

“Not ignore, but I have mine firmly embedded. It works for me,” I replied. “It’s a little more, well, compact.”

“So I see.” Again, that flat tone as he stared at my stomach. 

I’d placed the core in my middle dantian, what with the desire not to have it stabbed. That, at least, was common. What was not, was instead of utilizing a large lake, I had gone for something a little more high-tech. Within my middle dantian, an engine chugged away rather than a placid core or a rotating ball of fire or a swirling whirlwind.

“Some form of flame core?” He cocked his head to the side. “A little too long and cylindrical for a sun. The outflows are also much more organized.” In the end he asked, “What are you imagining?”

“An engine,” I said. Technically, a hybrid one from half-remembered images of TV sci-fi shows and actual ship engines. 

A fusion reactor that could be empowered by the addition of fuel rods, outflows via tubes and connections and, of course, a big control board to adjust everything else. I also imagined small containers running off, big vats of power that awaited utilization – my vaults, if you will – that were empowered by the fusion reactor.

Ramone frowned. “Those are the mana core empowered machines within the golems, are they not?” He cocked an eyebrow as his gaze went up and down my cheaply clad body, the school-loaned clothing that I wore and the battered boots on my feet. “And how did you see one of those?”

I just smiled, not seeing a point in answering or lying. 

“Well, it seems to be working well enough for you. Strengthen the depth of your image, and test the outflow to the academy. It seems to be leaking.”

I bobbed my head. The one issue with this particular visualization – what did you do with the exit? Where did it connect to? Having it disappear into the void, spewing energy into the air, felt wrong, but creating images of everything that I connected to was hard.

While I was debating what to do and how to clarify my situation, Ramone had moved on. In short order, he was done, leaving us to work through the visualizations by ourselves as he made his way to others, returning only later in the afternoon to provide a few more words of guidance.

Still…

Skill: Conserve

Level: 4

Potential: 87%

Target: Self (Only)

Siphon Level: 7%

Extrusion Control: Low

Number of Vaults: 1

The trip down the fault – even if it was lower in density – the fighting and the constant improvement had pushed my potential up. I expected that I would reach my next level soon enough, which would bring the question of what else to improve. I was back to conserving my own health, especially with the healing we received, but the question was what next.

Even if the lesson was quieter and less physically strenuous than the morning, I found my head hurting by the time we were done and from the looks of it, so did everyone else.