Seed Of Speed

Diego, and even the System, had no idea of the stir caused by his meditation. Instead, he just focused on a simple thrust. Once, twice... ten... one hundred... one thousand... he lost count of how many times he threw out his spear, but still he continued.

He began to understand the flaws in his stance as he had Ishu's memories to work off. Once his stance was corrected, he focused on the motion of the spear itself. The strike could be fast or slow, heading straight or curving like a snake, but no matter what, the spear always moved forward. Over time each thrust became more confident and he could finally 'feel' what Ishu had under his own efforts.

::Not bad, I guess. It only took you twenty-three days to reach the 'advance' stage of spear-craft. It's hard to judge with you having another's memory. Now, I will teach you how to channel your Solar Energy. Keep practicing your thrust and I will control the energy inside of you::

Diego nodded and returned to stabbing out his spear. Katalina stepped around him to stand behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. Although it was a little strange, he soon felt an energy seeping into his body and slowly stir his own energy.

::Do you feel your energy, now?::

"Yes, its like a small fire in my c.h.e.s.t," Diego said.

::Good, now pay attention to how I move it through your body::

When Diego pulled back his spear once again, suddenly the energy inside his c.h.e.s.t burst outwards and rushed to his arm, causing it to vibrate. He could not help but strike out with his spear and the illusion of nine more spears appeared. The fake images vanished when he reached the end of his thrust and a sudden wave of weakness hit him like a load of bricks, but still, he smiled. Katalina nodded as she removed her hands from his shoulders.

::When you can perfectly recreate the movement of your Solar Energy to match what I did, you will have mastered the ability, and you will need to learn to do it on your own without the assistance of the System before you can evolve it to the next stage::

"The next stage?" he asked excitedly.

::Of course there is a next stage, there are six: [Ten Strikes, One Thrust], [Hundred Strikes, One Thrust], [Thousand Strikes, One Thrust], [Ten Thousand Strikes, One Thrust], [Hundred Thousand Strikes, One Thrust], and finally, [Million Strikes, One Thrust]. Don't get too excited though, you'll be considered a genius if you manage [Thousand Strikes, One Thrust] by the time you step out of this world, even with the help of the System::

"So, how exactly does the System help me with these skills if I have to rely on my own efforts to evolve them?"

::The same way Ishu's memories sped your advancement to the 'advance' stage of spear-craft. The skills provided to you by myself or others will likely have been recorded down, so my creator gave me a full set of common techniques throughout the 'Dark' factions as a guide. The System can control your body to execute the specific level of the skill you have unlocked. By doing this for you, you will be able to understand the feeling over time and gain your own insights into it::

"I see," Diego replied with a nod.

::Good. Now, practice moving your energy until you can create at least one spear illusion. Only then will I teach you the next skill, understood?::

"Got it," Diego replied with a nod.

Now that Katalina had awoken his Solar Energy, he could felt it pulsing gently in an echoing rhythm of his heartbeat, located opposite of his actual heart. He was not sure where to start, so looked back through Ishu's memories. Ishu had two skills that he had learn in his childhood, [Serpent's Strike] and [Unyielding Thrust]. Instead of trying to use the new skill Katalina had shown him, he practiced the other two. The energy requirements were much smaller and less complex, so they worked as a good foundation.

The [Serpent's Strike] used his channeled Solar Energy to warp the spear, allowing it to curve around and strike at the opponent in tricky angles. It had been a gift from his mother's faction when he had embarked along the way of the spear while [Unyielding Thrust] had been taught to directly by his father. [Unyielding Thrust] was just that, a thrust of the spear with no room for retreat or defense. It was a killing move, multiplying his strength and speed in a short burst, that would either kill his opponent or leave him vulnerable to a counter-attack.

With Ishu's memories as a base for moving his Solar Energy, it took him two days each to recreate the moves, for a total of four. Once he was able to recreate the two skills, he asked Katalina to demonstrate the move again, through his body. She agreed and, from there, Diego continued to practice.

[Ten Strikes, One Thrust] used far more energy than the other two skills and the way it used that energy was very complex. [Serpent's Strike] gathered the energy into his hand and fingers then it would coat the weapon with that energy. [Unyielding Strike] dispersed throughout his entire arm, momentarily increasing his muscle mass. [Ten Strikes, One Thrust] pushed the energy throughout his arm, but there was a specific path it had to take through his body and controlling that energy was the hardest part of using skills.

More days passed, but Diego continued on striking out his spear, never growing tired or hungry. Katalina knew he had no physical needs while inside the mental plane, but there were still things like boredom and mental fatigue that could set in. The longer she watched Diego, the more her approval of him increased. He was steady, determined, and seemed humble enough, but sadly, she knew that was not enough to rise out of the mortal world alone. Lucky encounters were hard to come by, especially in a world like this, but he would need far more than what this clan could provide him if he wanted a chance.

Finally, the illusion of a second spear appeared as Diego struck out with his spear. He collapsed to his knees in the next moment, but he was smiling once again. He had done it... It used three times the amount of Solar Energy, and lost most of it due to poor control, but the second spear was there!

::Congratulations, you managed to learn it on day fifty-eight. I was expecting it to be closer to the seventies, you may have some talent inside of you after all::

"Thanks," he replied sarcastically.

Katalina chuckled. ::[Spinning Shield] should be a lot easier for you to learn, but it will not be too helpful until you reach the later levels. The first few levels will truly only work for arrows or small stones, but in the later levels, deflecting a car thrown at you would be easy::

"Holy shit!" Diego swore.

::Actually, it's not that impressive. By the time you break out of the Mortal Body and entered the Demi Body stage, your causal strikes will have more force than that::

"How many 'body' stages are there?"

::In the lesser world you are on now, there are three: Mortal Body, Demi Body, and Fiend Body. You will be unable to break through the Fiend Body stage until you step out of this lesser world::

"And then?"

::And then, my real body can explain things to you once you reach that point. For now, focus on the task in front of you. Attack me and I will show you how the [Spinning Shield] works::

Diego nodded his head and raised his spear once again. He closed his eyes for a moment then attacked the moment they reopened. The illusion of a second spear appeared as he thrusted out his spear, each point headed straight for each of Katalina's shoulders.

She held her spear in front of her from the middle, pointing it straight up, with her empty hand next to it. As Diego's spear tip reached about thirty centimeters away from her, suddenly her hands started moving. Diego only caught the first movement of her hands, twirling the spear around from one hand to the other, before it turned into a large, golden wall in the shape of a circle. He could no longer even see Katalina behind the spear, but it was too late for him to pull back his attack. The two tips of his spear, both illusionary and real, collided with the shield and his spear was instantly ripped out of his hands, flying off into the distance. The wall dispersed as Katalina slowed her spear.

::If this had been the real world, your hand would likely be destroyed at your current stage and someone like Barru would be injured if they insisted upon trying to keep ahold of their weapon::

"I could injure Barru?"

Katalina laughed. ::If you managed to completely maximize the [Spinning Shield] skill, you probably could with your current strength, but understand that the [Spinning Shield] and [Ten Strikes, One Thrust] do not level the same way. Reaching level twenty in [Ten Strikes, One Thrust] is the highest you can reach before it evolves, but [Spinning Shield] had no maximum level since it will not evolve into something else. It is a basic spear defense technique, so few bother to advance it to the point I just demonstrated it at. Never waste your time on one thing alone because, at some point, someone will come along and counter you, then only death would await you, understand?::

"Yeah," Diego said, nodding.

::Good. Now, turn around and hold the spear as I had been. I'll show you how it feels as I did with [Ten Strikes, One Thrust]::

Diego did as he was told and Katalina caused his body to execute the skill. After that, Diego spent his remaining time practicing the skill until Katalina sent him out of his mental plane on the ninetieth day, so that he could learn the skills in the real world and then rest before the duels.