The first light of dawn filtered through the thick mixture of palms and some sort of fruit trees with irregularly shaped leaves on Clearwater Isle.
After the events of yesterday, Lassim had convinced Karvus to meet up with him to discuss his explosive technique after explaining to him his unofficial reason for coming all the way to the southern tip of the southern continent.
The repetition of having to explain himself each time was starting to wear on him, but at least after this he only had one more mission sheet.
The diversity, yet interconnected nature, of the techniques and battle arts he’d witnessed so far was not lost on Lassim. There seemed to be some method to why Sect Master Volten had given Lassim the missions for these particular elders. He wasn’t quite sure which way it was developing him or why, but he felt there was some sort of connection to them all.
"Once we finish everything, I say we should go visit that Tempest’s Cradle spot for a while and have a good think about what we learned… That sound good to you two?" Lassim asked his elemental companions.
"[Sure brother! I wanna fly in those crazy storms that hit the island!]" Zaphy replied energetically with a chirp.
"[I’m also quite intrigued to see how those trees work to defend themselves that Elder Daxion had mentioned that inspired him for his [Thunderveil Curtain] technique.]" Mari also replied.
Lassim nodded his head and than clapped his hands together as he walked, "Well, that settles it. Let’s see what we can learn from Karvus this morning, and then make our way to the last mission! I’m still not feeling like I’m any closer to figuring out a fighting style, but I’m sure it’ll come to me."
Lassim soon arrived at a clearing just outside the outpost’s gates where Karvus had told him to meet.
Karvus, as expected, was already there. Crouched over a small stone he had picked up from the ground, he seemed utterly engrossed, his usual wild lightning energy focused in an intense study of the object in his hand.
Arcs of lightning snaked from his fingertips in fine, controlled lines, snaking their way over and into the stone’s surface.
Lassim approached slowly, eyes narrowed in concentration. Without the chaos of being surrounded by unruly day elemental energy and solar flares bursting in his face, he was able to observe the faint lines of lightning that moved like veins, pulsing in regular, yet erratic, intervals. Like a heart with tachycardia or an arrhythmia.
Noticing Lassim’s approach and focus, Karvus grinned, his usual gleam of barely-contained mania sparking in his eyes. "Ah, there you are!" he said, dusting himself off as he stood. "Had to start without you. Thought you might need a clearer look at the finer details of the technique so I’ve taken to prepare this rock for yah to study."
Lassim took the rock from the Elder’s hand, appreciating his work with slightly confusion. "If this is what you consider a clear demonstration, I’d hate to see what you think is complicated."
Karvus barked a laugh, clapping Lassim on the shoulder with an enthusiastic slap. "Always the joker! But here, let me show you. This is what I call the [Pulse] technique."
He took the stone back from Lassim’s hand and held it up, letting it catch the light as faint glimmers of lightning crackled across it. "Like all of my explosives, I don’t consider this to be just a charged stone—it’s what I like to call an ’object in waiting’. The energy inside is layered, connected and prepped, ready to go. I’ve created my own version of a circulating vein system through its structure. All it needs is a final push, a [Pulse] from me with the snap of my fingers or nudging of my intention, and it will erupt."
Karvus’s fingers tightened around the stone as he manipulated the thrumming and vibrating energy to settle in steady waves that released bright light, his lightning tracing delicate patterns along the stone’s surface, that Lassim was able to view quite clearly. The more Elder Karvus focused, the more the stone began to vibrate, a soft hum of power building up in its core until it reached an audible whistling sound.
Lassim watched, fascinated. "So you don’t just randomly fill the object with lightning. You’re setting up… what would you even call that… a series of, echoes?"
"Pulses, but exactly!" Karvus crowed, his grin widening. "You build up and connect the layers in a unique rhythm, each one a little jolt that amplifies the next. Think of it as a heartbeat—one beat after the next until it’s ready. Maaaan, it took ages to get the tempo right. Can’t tell you the number of times I lost my hands before I got it down. I think my personal record was 14 trips to the healer in a day before she kicked me in the arse and banned me from visiting for the next week. It took me taking her out to dinner for three days in a row before she forgave me. Now, want to try it yourself?"
Lassim extended his hand as Karvus absorbed the lightning within before tossing the stone over, feeling its residual energy from where it previously held the lightning mana pulse faintly in his palm.
He took a breath, drawing on his own lightning mana as he visualized the layers Karvus had shown.
Little by little, he let his energy snake through and settle into the stone, each pulse fitting into the grooves of the previous until a rhythm took shape within it. The stone did most of the work as if the previously created veins had already "known" or "remembered" where the mana needed to go. He felt the hum intensify as his energy pooled, resonating in a steady, yet somewhat erratic, beat that grew in strength.
"There you go!" Karvus cheered, watching eagerly. "Now, let’s see if you can make it explode. One last nudging ought to do it."
Lassim nodded, focusing on the stone as he sent a final surge of lightning through his fingertips without thinking about the consequences.
The stone trembled in his hand before a large explosion occurred, shattering with a sharp burst of energy, sparks scattering through the air as the shockwave sent a ripple through the clearing.
A sharp jolt of pain rippled through Lassim as his ears rang and all he saw was a bloody mess of two stubs where the thumb and index finger of his right hand once was. The rest of his hands had shards of bones and stone scattered throughout. He, with Mari’s initiation, immediately activated [Lifestream Aegis] which sent a full stream of flowing diving mana towards his hands to begin the healing process.
Karvus clapped his hands together, his laughter booming but Lassim could barely make out what he was saying with the ringing still going in his ears, "Not bad, not bad at all! You’ve got a knack for this, kid! You did it on your first try, even with my help! You even followed in my footsteps!"
He laughed some more before he gave Lassim a sidelong look, his grin almost conspiratorial, "Now imagine doing that with anything at hand—a tree branch, a boulder, even the dirt beneath your feet. Get the right control, and you could have a dozen of these primed and ready mid-fight!"
Lassim considered the possibilities, still in an odd shell-shocked daze as he considered how he might use this new battle art. The technique was similar to his own [Hydroburst] in the sense of filling the object’s core with mana, but involved a ton more subtlety and control he hadn’t yet mastered. Karvus’s approach wasn’t something he’d likely be able to recreate on a whim without an object already primed with his help. How many more fingers or even full hands would he lose before it became reliable? He shuddered at the thought.
Despite that, Karvus was taking this chance at tutoring someone and passing on his [Pulse] technique. He even began to grow inspired and say that Lassim was built for this technique as he even had the ability to heal himself. He had watched Lassim’s lost fingers grow back within thirty minutes and was just jealous of how much trouble he’d personally gone through when Lassim would be able to take care of the healing alone.
Motivated, Karvus encouraged Lassim into practicing for several hours, with him guiding Lassim through the nuances of building layers, timing pulses, and controlling ignition from a distance. The technique felt like an intricate dance between raw power and restraint once Karvus stopped priming the objects before hand and had Lassim creating it himself. This led to several more activations of [Lifestream Aegis] but he eventually began to feeling some confidence that he could improve his [Hydraburst] technique, let alone be able to practice this by himself now that he knew what the optimal rhythms for objects looked like.
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There was also an odd side effect where he suddenly began to feel more and more "attuned" to the "pulse" of his own mana. It was a strange sensation, but he felt like he understood it more and that there was some sort of familiarity or life force within the mana that he could sense that he hadn’t cared to pay attention to before.
When they finally stopped for a break, Lassim could feel the fatigue settling into his mind, the side effect of extended and over usage of [Lifestream Aegis] giving him that mixed status of being full of energy and physically fit but the mind drained and exhausted. But there was a sense of satisfaction, a feeling of progress as he thought about how he might adapt Karvus’s technique to fit his own future fighting style. This was especially uplifting after his repeated failures with Vaela’s [Rainfall Lances] technique where he couldn’t even manage to start that technique since he couldn’t make a mana copy of his halberd.
As they wrapped up, Karvus stretched, cracking his neck with a satisfied sigh. "Well, that’s about all I’ve got to teach you. You’ve got a good foundation now, and with that [Hydroburst] technique you were telling me of yours, I’d wager you’ll figure out a few tricks of your own soon enough."
Lassim nodded, his gratitude genuine. "Thank you, Elder Karvus. This technique… it’s given me a lot to think about."
Karvus shrugged, flashing a sly grin. "Don’t go getting all sentimental on me. Just don’t forget who taught you when you’re out there blowing things up." He clapped Lassim on the shoulder once more, then turned to leave, pausing only once to glance back. "Oh, and kid—don’t worry about that little storage trick of yours. Secrets like that have a way of attracting attention, but they’ll have to do a lot more than blow up a few limbs before I go yapping about it. I’ll look forward to seeing your progress with [Pulse] at the Elder’s summit. That’s about a year and a half away now? Something like that. Anyway, see yah around disciple!"
Once Karvus was gone back into the former Eternal Sun Sect campus of facilities, Lassim took a moment to reflect, his thoughts shifting to his final mission sheet.
He pulled the mission sheet from his pouch, reading through the details once more.