Aetherios System: Whirlwind

Chapter 25 – Sparks of a Technique

Alex had spent quite a bit of the following days trying to find out who that man with tattoo had been. Questioning the servants at the venue, making some slightly hooded inquires of a few other nobles and sect masters when he came across them at other gatherings. He even stooped to asking Lady Xhiu to see if she can find out anything for him.

All of it was fruitless.

Either no one knew who the man was, or anyone who did know, wasn’t talking.

“Or he was just a figment of your imagination,” Obby declared.

My imagination? Yet you saw him too. Are you saying your fallible,Obby?

“Me, fallible, please. No, I’m just limited by your inferior squishy meat senses, that’s all. I can hardly be blamed for your mental health issues.”

Alex gave a mental scoff. Not so sure about that last part. Either way, we still need to figure out who that guy was. So, keep your big, creepy ass eye open in case he shows up again.

“Will do, will do.”

He couldn’t devote too much time to the mystery, as he had far too many things to work on and improve before the tournament. Which also meant continuing his training with his mentor…

***

Alex slid backward across the polished floor of the training room, boots leaving faint marks. His arms trembled from the force of the last exchange. Master Sionna always hit like a runaway semi-truck trying to send him into another dimension.

“Again,” Sionna said. Her tone was calm, but the glint in her eyes was as merciless as it always was.

He drew a deep breath, pulled at the ambient aether, and dropped back into a fighting stance. His weight shifted perfectly from heel, ball, to toe—the way Sylvaris had taught him when first learning to fight and use the Demon Asura Style.

She watched his posture with a critical eye. “Your stance is cleaner than it has been,” she said. “But your rhythm still breaks when you attack. You’re thinking about the attack before the movement is finished.”

“Can’t help it,” Alex said. “I’m used to planning three steps ahead.”

“Then stop. Thought and planning has its place. But when in a fight, you need to balance forethought with awareness. You become too narrow focused, use your heightened senses and feel the flow of a battle, let your instincts plan for you.”

He nodded. Then came at her again.

Aether swirled around him and [Aether Burst] flared beneath his feet, hurling him forward at blinding speed. Sionna parried each incoming strike with minimal motion, her hands moving like a shadow’s.

“Footwork!” she barked as she pivoted past his next blow.

He adjusted, forcing himself to maintain balance as the next pulse of energy launched him sideways.

As he fought, the faint spiral of [Condensing Spiral] began forming at his body gate. He focused on breathing evenly, keeping the gathering pattern steady while he moved and attacked.

That was the true torture of this phase of training for Alex, maintaining everything at once. Footwork, strikes, defense, aether flow, and the spiral of essence constantly pushing and pulling through his channels.

It felt like he was trying his luck at juggling knives while sprinting across a battlefield.

And yet, he was getting better at it. Incrementally.

He exhaled sharply, and lunged again. Sionna’s arm blurred in response to his attempted kick. The next thing he knew, he was staring up at the ceiling, back flat on the floor.

“Better,” she said, looming over him, “but still not quite there.”

Alex groaned before rolling to his side. “I’m trying not to die, if that counts.”

A faint smirk ghosted across her face. “You’ll find dying is a poor excuse for failure.”

He stood, wincing, and settled back into fighting stance. “Round two?”

But Sionna was already stepping closer, her expression looking far too keen. “No. You were changing something in your fighting, your stance, right before you fell back on that last exchange.”

Alex looked at her dumbly. “Yeah...”

“I felt your aura shift,” she continued, folding her hands into the sleeves of her robes. “It wasn’t the same as your normal flow. I’ve seen you do it before, but it has been happening more as of late.Each chance in your stance also subtly changes that aura of your martial style in strange ways.”

He hesitated, thinking fast. Damn it. She noticed. Well of course she did.

He hadn’t wanted her to know about that part of his martial style yet. He still didn’t know how much he could trust her, if she’d report what she learned to Lady Xhiu or one of the Imperial observers always hanging around the training halls.

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So he decided to go with a half-truth.

“My martial style… it’s divided into different paths,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “Each one focuses on a different aspect if the style, being, defense, adaptation, heavy blow, light blows, or endurance.”

Sionna’s brow arched. “The Asura of old were said to have eight such paths. How many have you learned?”

Alex’s pulse spiked at that. So this was a known thing? Should he admit to having already gained access to all eight paths? He had them since learning the style from Sylvaris, even if he didn’t understand them the same way he did now.

He forced his face neutral and said, “Five. Maybe a few fragments of a sixth.”

Sionna studied him for a long, quiet moment. Then she nodded. “You’ll want to unlock them all eventually. Whatever else they were, the Asura weren’t weak.”

“I’ll… keep that in mind.”

Her voice changed back to a probing one. “And you used a gathering technique mid-fight. Foolish attempt, really. But interesting.”

Alex exhaled slowly. “That was [Condensing Spiral]. I was testing something out that I had tried a long time ago but couldn’t pull off. I used to lose control of the gathering whenever I tried it mid-combat. It was too much effort for not enough return. But the aether here…” He gestured around them. “It’s denser than anything I’ve trained in. Easier to practice in here.”

“Hmph. Most adepts can’t manage a gathering style in battle because the effort of filtering elemental aether for their gathering is too strenuous,” she said, repeating basically everything Sylvaris had told him when the elf had brought up the idea. “But, you don’t have to worry about that… still, it was sloppy.”

“Yeah, I felt that,” Alex admitted. “Still, I need to get used to doing it. If I can recover aether while fighting, it’s a huge advantage I’d have my opponent. And with my limited aether pool being one of my biggest weaknesses, it’ll help me close that gap a bit.”

Sionna tapped her chin. “Then that will be part of our focus from now on. Maintain the [Condensing Spiral] while moving, casting, and defending. You’ll fail often I’m sure, but when you stop failing, you’ll perhaps even improve the gathering speed.”

Alex rubbed his neck and coughed lightly. “There are levels to the gathering style,” he said. “Basic, three-fold, and nine-fold. I’m barely maintaining the basic one during combat, so… I’ve got a long way to go.”

Sionna smirked faintly. “Good. That means you have somewhere to climb.”

She turned toward the training table, conjuring a flask of cool water from her ring. “Now, I suppose its finally time to talk about it. You said you’ve been thinking since our last discussion. About your [Technique]?”

He huffed a laugh. Thinking about it was a big understatement. “I’ve been thinking about what kind of [Technique] I want to create and the options I have at my disposal.”

Sionna gestured for him to continue. “Let’s hear it.”

Alex crouched, tracing lines in the dust with his fingertip. “I’ve got three ideas. First is combining [Descending Demon Fist] with [Aether Burst]. I think it could create a finishing strike that merges movement and impact, something fast enough to tear through anything.”

Sionna’s hummed softly to herself. “A Finisher-Type [Technique]. This is where most mages end up gravitating towards. They are devastating, if executed correctly.”

He nodded. “Second option I have in mind is [Asura’s Armament] and [ Projection Shield]. I figure if I can merge those, I could create an unbreakable defensive form or a Warder Technique. Basically a living armor. Or, create an incredible powerful and stable weapon that I’d have access to at anytime and that I won’t have to worry about upgrading or replacing once I reach Magus, or Sage.”

Sionna’s lips quirked slightly. “Defensive Techniques are rare among younger adepts. They make their wielders nearly immortal on the field. If you can perfect that, you’d become a fortress. And you are right to think ahead at the possibility of this idea helping you in later Tiers.”

Alex hesitated. “I thought so too, but I haven’t mastered [Asura’s Armament] yet. It’s still too unstable. So my last idea—” He paused, then sighed. “It’s reckless.”

“Say it.”

“I can combine [Wrath Blood] and [Vita-Surge Cloak]. If I combine them right, I could channel the backlash from the principles of my spell into the boosting effect from Wrath Blood. It would create a constant feedback loop of regenerative vital energy and power boost.”

Sionna’s expression hardened instantly. “That one is suicide.”

“I know,” Alex admitted quickly. “But theoretically—”

“No.” She stepped closer then, looking him in the eyes sternly. “You don’t understand. Techniques are not System-bound as spells are. They aren’t guided or contained the same way. They obey only the will that forges them and the ideas surrounded their formation. A [Technique] is sometimes called a Transcendent Spell because that’s what they do, transcend the limits of what spells can do. Even consuming one’s soul for power, or trading cultivation progression if someone is crazy enough. If that loop you create spirals out of control, you won’t stop it. It’ll keep feeding until your body, your mind, and your soulspace rupture from overload.”

Alex swallowed. “So… bad idea.”

“The worst.”

He chuckled weakly. “Noted.”

Her tone softened then, but only slightly. “Your first two ideas have merit. The Finisher path is more achievable at your level. But if you truly want to survive long enough to master your craft… build your foundation first.”

Alex nodded, going quiet for a long moment. Then his expression hardened with resolve.

“Then it’s settled. I’ll try for the first one. [Descending Demon Fist] with [Aether Burst]. A finisher. Fast and destructive.”

Sionna inclined her head. “A bold choice. The hardest part will be stabilizing the point of fusion. You’ll need to combine explosive release of your spell with the contained power of your martial skill. Balancing both with the two clashing together will be difficult, but necessary. Otherwise, you’ll simply blow your arm off.”

“I figured it would be difficult, yeah,” Alex muttered.

She smirked faintly. “If it were easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing.”

He stared at his hands. He had once told Sylvaris he planned to punch a god. Back then, he didn’t know the history of the Asura, and how on the nose he had been with his statement. But if he got this [Technique] down properly, he just might be able to achieve that for real one day.

“Alright,” he said quietly. He looked back up at Sionna, resolve burning in his eyes. “Let’s begin.”