Expanding his prana capacity was by far the easiest option of them all, but it felt somewhat wasteful to spend his time on that—he’d acclimatized well enough to use Talents, so expanding his body’s prana capacity slightly further wouldn’t be of immediate use. Not unless he quadrupled it. That might allow him to power Talents solely off the prana in his own body, which would be useful outside the Ash. A worthwhile goal, though something to slowly work toward.
Of the remaining options, fixing Prana Vision and learning Haste were equal in his mind. He chose to focus on the Talent first. After all, he’d spent nearly every waking moment in the Ash thinking about how to do exactly that—ruminating about abilities he should’ve learned long ago but couldn’t because of insufficient prana.
Haste was low-hanging fruit. While classified as a Rare Talent, two whole tiers above Leap and High Jump, after watching Tia use it so often, Vir couldn’t understand why.
It was simple, and while it had made her faster, it hadn’t turned her into a blonde blur. It only made her half again as fast as she normally was.
Vir had already learned most of its constituent parts. Micro Leap allowed him to move with great haste, which he’d relied on against the Shredder.
There were two main differences. For one, Micro Leap was an activated power, not something that remained active continuously during a battle, and it only affected his legs. Perhaps a simple application of prana and intent was all that was needed to obtain Haste. He needed sufficient blood prana saturation—which he now had—and the intent to hasten.
Standing and adopting a runner’s stance, Vir allowed the supersaturated layer of prana near his skin to lapse slightly. His body filled with airborne Ash prana. When he neared his blood’s capacity, Vir stopped the process, re-establishing the layer of dense prana near his skin to block any more from entering.
Every single Talent he’d mastered thus far required two components: an infusion of prana into the relevant muscle group, and the proper intent. To activate Leap, for example, he supersaturated particular muscles in his legs and willed himself to move forward. Haste, however, moved the entire body rather than targeting one specific muscle group. In a way, it was easier. All he had to do was flood his body full of prana.
Move, Vir thought, putting power into his legs. The ability activated and he stumbled violently forward, barely catching himself before he fell. His arms also moved unnaturally faster than normal. Jerky.
It was as if his body moved too quickly for his mind to process. This wasn’t anything like what he envisioned Haste to be.
Vir tried it again, and while he didn’t fall this time, the result was hardly any better. Something was wrong. This wasn’t the ability Tia possessed. With Haste active, she moved gracefully, as if she’d been born with it. Every part of her was faster.
I’m thinking of it the same way as Leap and High Jump. I’m missing something here.
The hours passed, and Vir experimented. By hour three, he grew irritated. By the fifth, he was downright angry.
It shouldn’t be this hard! The principle’s so simple!
While he had grown more proficient at controlling his arms and legs, he couldn’t persist in the state. It was one thing to initiate a single Leap. It was another entirely to make his every motion match that pace.
Vir began to wish he’d been born with a sharper brain. One that could think faster.
His efforts were getting him nowhere, so Vir begrudgingly switched his focus, concentrating on Prana Vision instead.
The first ability he’d ever learned had also proven to be his most vital. Time and time again, Prana Vision provided answers, aiding him in unlocking the mysteries of prana and assisting him in combat. Now, it wasn’t merely useless, it actually worsened his vision, polluting his sight with clouds of prana so dense, he couldn’t see through it.
The easiest solution was to turn it off, except he’d already restricted the blood flow to his eyes as much as he felt was safe. While it helped, it hadn’t helped enough.
The next option was to strip prana away from the blood going to his eyes, though that was easier said than done. In principle, the process would be like how he shuttled prana from the ground through his legs. There, he supersaturated a thin layer of blood around the blood he wanted to empty. This prevented the prana-starved blood from immediately refilling with prana from nearby.
He planned to do the same here, just that the degree of control it required would be far greater—far less blood flowed to his eyes, requiring a deft touch. Vir had learned firsthand just how dangerous making mistakes in that region could be. If done improperly, he could easily blind himself, or worse.
Thankfully, Vir’s prana manipulation was incomparable to what it had been at Riyan’s place. Taking control of his blood, he formed the supersaturated barrier and evacuated prana from the blood going to his eyes.
For once, it worked exactly as expected. Vir breathed in relief when the cloud dissipated, leaving him with ordinary, unaided vision.
Though, while it cleared up his sight, it also made him feel blind. The ability had grown so natural to him, it’d merged with his ordinary eyesight. It was like being robbed of color—the world just felt wrong.
“Hard to believe I had the opposite sensation when I first got it,” Vir muttered. Prana Vision had been so overwhelming at first, it’d made him nauseous. His mind’s ability to adapt to new sensations boggled him. Leap, for example, now hurled him five times the distance it used to, and he’d already grown used to it. The mere thought of having to walk like he used to felt debilitating.
Vir refocused on the problem at hand. He couldn’t live without Prana Vision. Ideally, he wanted to selectively filter Ash prana, reducing its presence while amplifying the other affinities. But wishes never made anything come true. If there was a way to accomplish that feat, Vir wasn’t aware of it.
So he did the next best thing—allow a sliver of prana back to his eyes. Doing so would not only reduce eye strain from prana starvation, but it brought his vision back to something more akin to normal.
Ash prana still dominated, though now it no longer worsened his vision. The fix would suffice for the time being—all Ash Beasts possessed Ash Affinity exclusively. There wasn’t much need to see the other affinities as well.
The only issue was the extreme control it required. To a degree Vir found difficult to maintain unless he concentrated intently.
If only my blood moved more slowly…
Stripping out prana was only so tough because he had to do it so quickly. Still, messing with his blood flow rate had caused him much pain in the past, and he wasn’t eager to repeat that painful lesson. He’d just have to work on making it a subconscious task. Until then, he’d only use it when he needed his best vision.
Thinking about the world slowing down reminded him of his sparring sessions with Spear’s Edge.
Wonder what she’s up to right now? Had she returned to her homeland? Or was she still out adventuring, the same as before?