966 Chapter 966 Casual Testing… Not So Causal Results
Kat rolled back and forth on her feet as she stood in front of the door, waiting for someone to come and open it. Though… as the minutes passed Kat was becoming increasingly sure that nobody was coming to answer her nocks. Kat sent a bit of energy into her ears to try and see if she could pinpoint a servant. It would let her know if she was being intentionally snubbed, nobody was around, or it was a mistake.
A wave of sound assaulted Kat as all the sounds she’d been ignoring came pouring in. Most of it was chatter and movement from the houses around her or the wind whipping up a seemingly endless amount of dust. So it was rather conspicuous that the house in front of her produced no sound at all. No sounds of movement, conversation, or even the sound of dust hitting the walls. Frowning, Kat knocked twice heavily and was unsure what to make of things when she heard to distinct thuds of her fist.
*Right… so the house definitely dampens sound. There’s no way it doesn’t… but the door is also just as clearly exempt from that. So I have to assume that either they can’t hear me, due to malice or mistake, perhaps from not being around, perhaps just not hearing the knocks. So… what do I do about it?*
Kat stepped back a bit and then started to roll her feet again. If she’d been let into the house at any point she’d feel a lot more comfortable just walking in. If Kat knew where her room was even better… but she didn’t want to just barge in without having been formally invited. She might not have been a vampire but it felt wrong to just make her way in without informing anybody.
*So… what do I do now? Lily’s asleep so we can’t just chat. Sue’s off on her… date? And I’m stuck out here. Hmm…what the heck do I do now?* Kat looked around for an answer and found… nothing of course. Kat stepped out of the small awning that encased the door and ran her hand through the grass as she thought up a plan… only to realise it wasn’t grass.
*Well… it’s not the best plan of action… but I guess I’m going to watch grass grow! Or… not as seems to be the case.* Kat’s cursory examination of the grass was leading her to believe that it was actually just dirt that looked like grass and sort of acted like it. The biggest hint was the texture, but the clincher was that now she was looking all the grass was exactly the same height. Any variation there seemed to be in height, was simply down to the wind.
So Kat amused herself messing around with the grass for a good thirty minutes before the boredom started to creep back in. Honestly, Kat thought she made a pretty good attempt at occupying herself. Sure she could go out into the city… but she didn’t know anything about the local society and wasn’t totally convinced she could find her way back here. Especially if she didn’t just fly around. It was a risk she didn’t really want to take just for a bit of a amusement.
950
Eventually, Kat decided that perhaps the best use of her time would be to get in some proper practice. Flapping her wings carefully, Kat made her way up out of the crevice and onto the flat-ish mountain area right next to the house. Kat also made sure not to get too close to the nearby structure, just in case it was something important. It wasn’t worth the risk she’d damage it if an attack went awry. Kat landed softly and pulled out her fans, mentally going through her options of where to start… before the slight shifting on her back gave her an idea.
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*I suppose the whole point of that bag was so that I could keep Lily with me when I fight and protect her that way. Let’s see if I CAN fight without waking her up.* Kat nodded to herself and started to run through her katas, trying to make sure that any movement Lily was subjected to was slow and gradual, occasionally keeping her torso completely rigid and relying on either her arms or legs to complete the motion as best she could.
Kat was finding it to be an interesting exercise. Not only was it a good way to practice while keeping tack of Lily, but it meant that in real combat Lily wasn’t at risk of being thrown around. *What I want to know is just how much of Lily’s ability to sleep through all the movement, because I know I’m no expert and there is movement, but how much of my success is due to the fact that Lily can tell she’s with me?*
Kat didn’t know the answer to that question. So she decided to do some… riskier testing. Kat steadily increased the speed of her routine, still making sure Lily was safe of course… but not bothering all that much with ensuring that Lily remained unmoved. After ten minutes of rigorous exercise and more than a few scratches from Lily’s horns… Kat was able to conclude the answer was ‘a lot’. Lily barely shifted even after being thrown around a considerable amount. Kat had stopped on a dime after her max speed, letting the bag containing Lily swing sharply forward then back… and Lily didn’t even move.
Apparently Memphis were really good at ignoring things that weren’t dangerous. Or perhaps it was just Lily? Kat wouldn’t be surprised if it was due to the link. Kat knew Lily was safe, and despite the movement that certainty might have been conveyed to Lily’s sleeping mind, allowing her to ignore the outside disturbances. A counterpoint to that, was of course that Kat had a good deal of trouble waking Lily up when she was actively trying to wake the Memphis… but Kat wasn’t sure if that was only the case because Kat believed it to be safe during those attempts. Perhaps something to test.
Once Kat had determined rather thoroughly that inconveniencing Lily was something Kat would have to actively go out of her way to do. It was time to test her fire out a bit. Kat summoned a small, fist size ball of demonic energy and then threw it gently away from her body. A moment later a soft ‘thump’ sounded out. A blink later and Kat had iced a large area in front of her. At least ten square metres and it was spreading.
*Oh. Oh dear…*
Kat gazed at her hand and casually summoned up her fire once again. It wasn’t hard. Making sure to put the same amount in as last time Kat checked her reserves… that were already full. *Oh dear me. That’s… that’s just excessive.* Kat palmed the fireball for a bit. The mental practice she’d done previously making it easy to automatically make the demonic energy act as if it was a ball and not just energy pretending to be fire rolling around her palm. Kat sucked in a breath before hurling the fire away, making sure it was nowhere near the first impact sight…
The fire rapidly expanded for a short moment before it continued to burn on the edges, slowly creeping along the ground as she watched it… and just as large, if not larger then the first time. *It seems my demonic energy is more potent. That’s… well it’s to be expected but this is a bit silly. I’m not even trying at all. What the heck would happen if I really started to try? Could I ice a whole mountain with my reserves now? Because it just might be possible.*
You know… getting faster and stronger is one thing. Especially when my mind can move just as fast as my body. It makes it hard to appreciate the changes. This… this makes it real clear that I’m Rank 3 I suppose. I wonder what it means for the abilities I already have? I didn’t get to use my dream walking much but I’m sure that’s stronger now. What about my regeneration?
Kat sliced into her arm. It actually took a good deal of pressure to even break the skin… but as soon as she moved the fan away the cut healed. In fact, she could feel her body pushing away the fan even as she continued to cut. *That’s a little freaky as well. Hmm… do I want to try and find out what my new ability can do? Even just this little bit of testing has shown me that I’m really strong now. What if my third skill is something indiscriminately deadly? Like a plague or just a laser cannon? I’d really rather Lily wasn’t around for those tests…* Kat looked over at the ice that was still expanding.
*You know what. Scratch that. I don’t want ANYONE or ANYTHING anywhere near me when I test my Rank 3 power. I’ve seen what I can do basically by accident. I do NOT want to know what I can do when I try. Not with people around.*
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