Seed Of Speed

Chapter 51 - [White Lightning Array]

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[White Lightning Array] – Level 1 – 1/10

- Evasion technique that deploys chi to create an invisible array around the user enabling the user to travel at high speeds along the grid-like network of chi lines, chi lines are fixed in relation to user, flash of light will accompany all movements

- 10 chi per minute per chi line, maximum 1 chi line

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Diego smiled despite the migraine. The new skill was like a fusion between [Electric Arc Hop] and [Flash Step]. He could move and stop anywhere along the chi line unlike the former skill he could only move between the two ends, but still had a low cost for chi in comparison to [Flash Step]. Although he was sure the other three skills helped the system pick this skill, he could not see the elements of them in it at the moment.

He g.r.o.a.n.e.d as he dismissed the window and rested his arm over his eyes. His clone set down the ki'ta before it vanished with a blur, and thankfully, his headache eased. He put away his instrument into the storage space and sat up.

::That new bard skill of yours puts a lot of strain on your mind, not that you don't know that already. You should refrain from using it with your clone for long periods of time without further leveling your [Parallel Thinking] skill::

(It costs three hundred points to level it again!) Diego complained silently.

::Points you could have if you stopped depending so much on instruction, rather than making your own future! You haven't even begun to scratch the potential granted to you by the 'Seed'::

(I know, I haven't done much this much other than learn magic this month, and none of that voodoo really sinks in.)

::Your sect's methods are not the fastest, I agree, but they are the safest, which allows them to capture the heart of the desert people by sending out their weaker shamans to live in the villages across the desert, and thereby recruiting all those born with the gift for magic. But there must be a core group, even if you haven't heard about it yet. Every sect has core disciples that they raise into elites, and it is only a matter of time before they approach you, but as it is now, they would only want you for a supporting type role which would be wasting the power granted to you by the 'Seed'::

(I understand.) Diego sighed as he stood up.

For now, he could only go back to his room and rest; his headache would not allow much more than that. Trying out the skill would just have to wait until tomorrow. He met up with his clones back in his room and merged with them, gaining their experiences from the day, then passed out on his bed, completely mentally exhausted.

The next morning, Diego sent off his clones as usual then made his way back to the Martial Institute. Instead of an empty practice room, he rented an obstacle course room this time. The obstacle room was twenty by twenty meters and, aside from the two-meter perimeter from the outside wall, there were stone pillars, a meter wide, arranged so that there was only a meter gap between the next. There were eight columns one way and eight the other with more filling the space between for a total of sixty-four pillars. Diego walked to the center of the room the center of the room with a bit of excitement in his steps.

(Kat, invest all of my skill points into [White Lightning Array].)

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[White Lightning Array] - Level 6 - 9/60

- 10 chi per minute per chi line, maximum 6 lines

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Diego closed his eyes as he activated [White Lightning Array]. Although the chi lines were invisible, Diego could 'see' the golden lines that stretched out two meters from his body, one forward, another behind, then right, left, up, and down. They were the thickness of two fingers which, compared to the [Electric Arc Hop], was more than triple the width. He shifted his body slightly, and he suddenly vanished.

Unlike the [Electric Arc Hop], when his body compressed to travel along the chi line, there was nothing to stop him… except for the solid stone wall which he crashed into at full speed. If not for his [Scarlet-Gold Skin] activating under Katalina's order, he might have knocked himself out as his head, and the rest of his body, slammed into the wall, but even then, he was dazed, laying awkwardly against the wall and floor.

"[email protected]#*," he grumbled as he moved into a sitting position.

Laughter filled his head and black lines appeared on his face.

(Really? The first time I get a real laugh out of you is when I faceplant into a wall?) Diego asked silently.

::I ensured that you were unharmed:: He could hear the teasing tone in her voice and could almost see her trying to hold back her laughter.

(Thanks… I guess. Now, can you tell me how I am supposed to control this skill?)

::For starters, you need a destination in mind, and not just a direction::

Diego rolled his eyes as he pushed himself up and wiped the dust off of his face. He activated the skill again, this time, focusing on the edge of the pillars as his stopping location. While he did not crash into the pillar, his nose was touching the stone which made his eyes go wide with shock, and the laughter returned.

(Oh, come on!)

::Sorry… but this is your own doing. You did not even practice the ability before you increased it so much, combine that with the power from your 'Seed', and here you are, unable to react to your own speed. Split off a [Speed Clone] to reduce the power from your 'Seed' and practice. This skill is not just an evasion technique, but a movement technique meaning you will be able to attack and retreat at will with ability, once you get some 'real' mastery over the skill::

Diego could only sigh and do as she suggested. He was moving so fast, he could not even process that he was moving before he was already in the location he wanted. He tossed his clone the ki'ta to use {War Song} to sustain his practice then moved back to the center of the room and activated the ability again. While his true body practiced, his [Speed Clone] leaned against the back wall while playing "Time In A Bottle" by Jim Croce from his favorite scene X-Men: Days Of Future Past.

"If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I'd like to do

Is to save every day

'Til eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever

If words could make wishes come true

I'd save every day like a treasure and then

Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time

To do the things you want to do

Once you find them