The smooth feeling of Li Feng's hands barely registered. Lief's entire body felt numb. His muscles trembled, not from fear, but from the drain of violent energy that had just ravaged his soul.
"Stay with me, Xuan!" Feng's voice cracked like a whip.
Lief forced a breath through gritted teeth. His mouth was dry, his skin clammy and soaked with sweat. All he could do was rasp out a whisper. "I'm... fine."
"No, you're not," Yun said, kneeling beside them. Her eyes scanned him over--tranquil, yet strangely soft. "You burned through too much energy at once. Idiot."
Lief tried to laugh but only coughed.
Elder Li arrived moments later. His face was unreadable, though his gaze lingered on Lief's right arm--the one that had conjured the unstable construct.
"We'll have to fight without relying on your power," he declared. "Demon Raid begins in three hours. Rest now, all of you. I'll take the first watch."
He began to set up tents and motioned the group to rest. "You all will need rest to fight off the Demons." He turned toward them. "They'll be unlike anything else you've fought before," Elder Li stated solemnly. His eyes pierced through Lief like a bullet through glass.
An hour later, the sun had begun to set. "Demon Raid is soon." Elder Li's eyes were drooping--not from fatigue, but from worry.
"Everyone, out," he demanded, features rugged and tight. "Start training." He walked away.
Lief walked around the camp area, attempting to find usable ground for training.
"There!" Rhysa spotted a site with almost no cracks in the ground.
Lief ran to the area, barely panting despite the trip being far. His evolved body was truly far more perfect than his previous.
Rhysa, how do you wield a sword?
"Teaching is unneeded. I shall implant basic moves inside your head and you'll practice during the Kyran Raid."
"Parrying, thrusting, evading, and slashing, huh?"
Rhysa responded promptly, "Correct." She beeped, a signal. "Do you see the sword in your hand?"
Yeah. Lief brandished the sword he was holding. Long, slender, with a grey luster.
"Concentrate small amounts of Psyker energy into the sword. Use it as a "medium" for your power."
Lief tried to embue the sword with Psyker energy, forming a "construct" but inside the sword instead of in the air.
Without warning, an explosion occured, similar to the one that had happened when he had attempted using Psyker energy earlier.
"Smaller amounts. The mutation caused by Kyran flesh resulted in you acquiring more energy. However, that energy is incredibly volatile compared to your natural power."
Lief tried again, this time with less energy. Yet, even with this, a small blast was made when he tried. At this point, Lief's arm was heavily injured, and his veins were burning with scorching blood. He winced from pain.
Still not working. Any advice?
Rhysa was sighing as she watched Lief through one of the eyes in the sky. "Imagine your Psyker energy as a reserve. Any type is fine."
Lief thought of his power as a pool of water. A tranquil cerulean pond with crimson streaks through it.
"Now, imagine a small, miniscule amount of that reserve exiting out."
Lief imagined the pond floating in the air, no liquid spilling out. He envisioned a small drop of deep red emerging from the bottom of the pond into his sword.
I got it! He was ecstatic!
The sword echoed a primal hum, vibrating with barely concealed power. The metal glowed a faint red, and its very essence was ever so slightly altered with a sliver of crimson hue. Lief could feel pure strength within it. And although it still consumed energy from him, the loss of barely traceable.
"Your Psyker energy will slowly become more stable as you adjust to it through use and age," Rhysa told him. "Eventually, the pure chaos it is now will calm down and no longer injure you, allowing you to create larger, more complex, contructs."
This is... amazing. Excitement could barely be contained. How powerful is this thing? He mused.
"Try it out on that boulder," Rhysa sent an image of a left arrow into Lief's mind. To the left? Lief turned and saw a jagged black rock, poking out from the somewhat flat ground. Unlike the ground, however, it had a glassy texture, likely from weathering over years. The stone was over twice Lief's height, towering over him.
How did I not notice that? Lief pondered for a bit, before deciding to just test out his new toy.
He slashed sideways, searing a long horizontal cut through the boulder. The attack area was blackened, charred with energy. Contrary to this, the section next to the immediate area was red hot, molten.
The top of the rock began to slide off the base, and Lief had to quickly step away to avoid an untimely demise.
"Don't get cocky with this new strength," Rhysa warned. "This is only the first step in a long path of power. Even the Experts in this nexus could have destroyed the boulder entirely."
Lief looked at the stone, doubting Rhysa's words for the first time. He felt the burnt section, recoiling at its residual heat.
Are you sure? This seems like quite a lot of power to me.
Rhysa answered the ignorant rookie, "Indeed, Saint, my previous statement was true." She continued. "The strongest fluxcaster talent in the outside world, and perhaps all of history, is named Reynir le Eidotrax."
And how powerful is he?
"At the age of only 26, he has become a Tier 8 Sovereign. In addition, he has powerful abilities which allow him to quickly learn and create techniques. In his last battle, against one of the Aspects, he was able to fight for over an hour. Multiple moons were destroyed in the process. He should thank his ancestors for his family's wealth."
Lief trembled a bit. A drop of his own power could bring him to his knees, yet he was expected to stand toe to toe with geniuses like Reynir? I'm not gonna be able to survive. He shuddered.
"Do not worry, Saint, your talent is still incredible across the universe. Even if it's several times lower than Reynirs, it's still thousands of times higher than even elite soldiers." Rhysa reassured him. "You don't even need to chant to use Psyker power!"
Yeah, I know I'm talented.
"We better start going back to camp," Lief admitted.
One more hour till the DemonRaid. Or was it Kyran?