Unchained Potential (The Whispering Crystals: A LitRPG Series Book 4), page 10
Shit.
I manage to get little more detail out of Suri about the Trial. All she can tell me is that Kaitlynn and I will be facing something together that will be specially selected to provide us with ‘a good match.’ Our opponent will be ready for us in at most twelve hours, and we’ll have to start the Trial within twenty-four.
I guess this means whatever we’ll be facing will be well-protected against both Heat and Toxic Energy, at least.
The prospect that we’ll be facing this together is both a relief and an additional source of worry for me. The last thing I want to do is drag Kaitlynn down with me.
My eye drifts down to the stump unbidden and my stomach twists as I’m once more faced with the reality of my predicament.
I really, really hate this.
I take a deep breath to steady myself, my mind racing as I’m considering options.
“Just checking, but Regeneration level 2 isn’t going to cut it, right?”
[It is not,] Suri chimes succinctly. [Level 2 allows one to direct their regenerative Lavi, providing faster regeneration and the healing of matters such as complicated fractures, but there’s still a big gap to cross from there to the third Skill level, which would allow the regrowing of complex structures.]
Yeah, I figured.
I currently have 83 Trial Points, and a full Skilldream for the next level of Regeneration costs 80. I’m not confident in getting it with half a Skilldream, but even if I was, considering how complex the third level sounds, there’s no way I could do that with half a Skilldream. I probably couldn’t even afford it either—not without borrowing from Kaitlynn.
In conclusion, I’m not getting my foot back before the next Trial.
Damnit damnit damnit!
Normally I would be pacing the room right now, but I can’t even do that. The walls seem to close in on me, the lack of mobility from my missing foot more stifling than ever.
I clench my hands into fists. Damnit, Emma, what are you doing, sitting here feeling sorry for myself? I need to do something, come up with a better way for me to move around than hopping.
I still have Negative Inertial Energy, at least, but by itself that isn’t enough. I need something to push off with to gain speed when I use that, and that’s exactly what I’m lacking now.
I suppose I could practise using my breath jets for sudden changes in direction... The biggest danger would be that I lose balance and stumble while doing so, now that I’m one foot down, but with how high my Agility it is, it’s a feasible idea. Of course, getting better at emergency dodges is not the same as having my foot back.
Should I try and fashion a prosthetic of some sort? I have no idea how though... Damnit, I bet Alec could’ve whipped something up.
My head shoots up as a thought occurs to me. “Hey Suri, the Equipment Window wouldn’t happen to have gained any prosthetic limbs, would it?”
[I’m afraid not, Emma.]
Damnit. “Are there any foot-replacing or motion-enhancing External Power-Ups?” I try.
[None that are within your price range, I’m afraid.]
My eyebrows shoot up. “So they do exist?”
[Sure. There’s one that would provide you with a set of six chitinous appendages coming from your back, and even one that grows a set of wings. However, those are both top-grade, and well beyond your current budget.]
I sigh. “Well, it was worth a shot.”
Wings would be awesome, though I’m not sure how useful they’d be if the fight turned out to be indoors. Either way, it seems I won’t be flying anytime soon.
Unless... “You sure you can’t give me a hint about how Dominique flew?” I half-joke.
[I thought I’d made myself clear the first time, Emma,] Suri chimes tersely. [There’s no space in this competition for cheaters.]
I let out a sigh. “Fair enough.”
I try to come up with some more questions, but my heart isn’t in it, so soon enough, I hop out into the living room, eager for a change of scenery. Also, perhaps, for a specific view that’s sorely lacking in my room.
Unfortunately, Kaitlynn isn’t out yet, for once.
This living room is much the same as the last one, except for the addition of two target dummies, so I hop over to the loveseat-sized couch, and flop down, quickly losing myself in my thoughts.
Soon enough, Kaitlynn comes out with a big frown on her face, and a stubborn set to her jaws that I haven’t seen in a while. She blinks and her expression softens when she spots me. “Hey.”
I try to smile but it feels strained. “Hey.”
She takes a seat next to me with a sigh and quietly rests her head on my shoulder. I close my eyes and enjoy the proximity, feeling a bit of the tension in my stomach drain away.
“How’s it feel?” she asks softly. “Any pain?”
I shake my head gently, careful not to dislodge the warm, comforting weight on my shoulder. “It’s fine. Won’t be getting it back anytime soon though.”
After a moment, she lifts her head, straightens her spine and turns to me. “In that case, we better talk strategy. I was thinking I should take a Skilldream for Increase Momentum level 2.”
I nod, a little taken aback by her quick switch to a business-like attitude. “Ehm, yeah, I was thinking the same thing; it’ll give us a viable option for offence at least, with some practice.”
The combination attack Jacob and I developed in the past that combines Negative Inertial Energy with Positive Kinetic Energy was devastating, to say the least. I still need a better way to move around, though... At least I still have Negative Inertial Energy to help.
“I’m going to take a full Skilldream for it, then,” she continues. “No risk of failure or wasted time. And I was thinking... should our initial offence fail, maybe I could carry you on my back?”
I consider the idea, pursing my lips. Kaitlynn can carry me for quite a bit, she’s proven that much. “I mean, it’s an option... It’d be risky though, considering we’ve never practised fighting like that. One slip-up with Inertia and Momentum and we turn ourselves into a smear on the wall.”
She hums. “That would also make it difficult to practice.”
I sigh. “If I could just figure out how she did it...”
Kaitlynn blinks. “How who did what?”
“Dominique,” I answer absentmindedly. “How she flew.”
Kaitlynn’s brow rises. “You think you can copy her?”
I shrug. “She’s Yin like me, so I don’t see why not. Though I won’t get very far if I can’t figure out how she pulled it off. The logical explanation would be some form of Gravity Manipulation like Bruce had, but that’s Yang. It just doesn’t make sense!”
Kaitlynn thoughtfully scratches her cheek. “Maybe she was just high enough up that gravity was really weak?”
I shake my head. “I was up there with her... I remember feeling like gravity disappeared around her somehow, and it returning after she pushed me away.”
“Like with the portals?” Kaitlynn asks.
I blink. “What?”
“The portals,” Kaitlynn repeats. “You know, the way gravity returns just a bit after we arrive somewhere, like in a cartoon.”
My eyes widen as the puzzle pieces finally click together.
“Of course! She was using Space! Gravity’s Yin-Yang opposite!”
[Oh, so you will listen to her?] Suri grumbles.
Wait, what? Did Suri just insinuate... that she had been dropping hints?
A vague memory of a phrase about the ‘gravity of my request’ comes drifting by. However, it wasn’t the idiomatic gravity she meant, it was Yang Gravity as only exists in this Realm!
Which is... impressive. I’m pretty sure Suri doesn’t actually speak English to me; she uses objective meaning to communicate what she wants to me with those odd noises that sound like chimes in my head, yet she managed to drop a hint using the translation of what she said into English.
Plus, she did it on the fly. She might be even smarter than I give her credit for.
Damn. And I totally missed it! I shake my head, resolving to pay closer attention to her words and meaning in the future.
“Well, it seems like you’ve got some thinking to do,” Kaitlynn says, suddenly getting up. “In the meantime, I better get started on my Skilldream. Be back in five hours.”
She presses a kiss to my cheek and marches back to her room with determination in her step.
I can’t help but stare after her.
She’s stepping up, I realise with a start. With my leg like this, she feels like it’s up to her.
The worst part is... she’s not wrong.
Except now I have a way forward. Potentially. After all, Dominique might’ve had weeks of practice, I have twenty-four hours at most.
And I still don’t have the entire picture. I’m positive she used Spatial Energy to fly, but now the question becomes how.
CHAPTER 13
Obey gravity; it’s the law
As far as I’m aware, there’s only one Spatial Energy Skill available through the Skilldream Shopping Window, and that’s Distort Space.
However, I’ve shrunk myself down countless times and never started floating... Still, I refuse to believe Dominique has that Skill at a higher level than me. Even if she did, the third level only adds an extra dimension to distort, it shouldn’t do anything like this.
Crap, what if she has some kind of hidden Skill that I haven’t unlocked the requirements for or something?
If that were the case though, there’d be little point in Suri taking the risk of hinting at me. No, realistically speaking, it has to be Distort Space she’s using, probably even just the first level. Which means it has to just be an inventive use of the Skill, like the stuff I do with Breath Control. Some crazy way to use Spatial Energy that I haven’t thought of, that allows one to float.
Then again, maybe I’m overthinking this. After all, the floating caused by the portal seemed to just be an unintentional side-effect.
Wait... it can’t be that simple, can it?
My initial attempt fails. So does the next one, and the one after that. Soon enough, I’m stuck waiting for my Qi to regenerate. Still, I persist, and after a couple of hours, my hard work finally pays off.
When it does, I find myself laughing my ass off as I float upside down through the living room in a shimmering, nearly invisible bubble of Spatial Energy.
My laughter has the unexpected consequence of propelling my head backwards, which causes me to spin around my centre of mass, located roughly behind my belly button. This just makes me laugh harder, which makes me spin harder, which makes me laugh har—
“Emma?” Kaitlynn calls out from somewhere behind me, bewildered.
My laughter halts for a moment as I try to locate the source of the most welcome sound. I notice a blue blur passing by in my field of vision. That just sets me off again.
Oh man, I’m getting dizzy.
Kaitlynn mercifully manages to slow me down rather gently by applying resistance to my foot as it passes by a few times, until she finally catches it in her hands, holding me steady as I float right above her.
She stares up at me in wonder. “You actually did it?”
I finally manage to get my chuckles under control. “Yup! I figured it out,” I say through an exuberant smile. “She was using Distort Space all along!”
She cocks her head to the side. “Really? Well, how does it work?”
I grin. “Why don’t I... show you!”
I pull her towards me, simultaneously stretching out my boundary until it envelops her as well.
Her eyes go wide as she enters my zero-G field, her hair fluttering every which way and her feet reaching for ground suddenly out of reach. “Wait—”
I blow out a jet of Aether to the side, sending us spinning like figure skaters on the ice, clutching onto each other for dear life.
It’s been a while since I’ve heard Kaitlynn’s clear laughter, and my chest tightens a little as it washes over me.
“Okay, this is pretty fun,” Kaitlynn admits, a little breathless, after I slow us down to a lazy spin by directing my exhale to the other side, “but it’s not an explanation.”
“Well, Space and Gravity are Yin-Yang opposites,” I start distractedly as she wraps her arms more comfortably around my neck, and I shift mine to her waist. “Ehm, s-so the thicker you make a Spatial Boundary, the more Gravity gets excluded by it. Honestly, I feel like an idiot for not figuring it out sooner.”
Seriously, I even used a Spatial Boundary to break the grip of Bruce’s Gravity Field on me. With that experience behind my belt, I should’ve figured this out way sooner...
Kaitlynn shrugs, brushing some free-floating hair from my face. “Well, hindsight is 20/20.” She smiles impishly. “Not to say you’re not an idiot.”
“Hey!” I exclaim, trying but failing to keep my lips straight as I narrow my eyes at her. “In my defence, I never really noticed the effect before because I tried to be efficient with my Spatial Energy by making my boundaries as thin as possible. I kinda regret that now, of course, ’cause this is way more fun!”
I reach out with one hand and push off from the ceiling towards a nearby wall, dragging Kaitlynn along. From there I kick off again under an angle, and Kaitlynn squeals then laughs as I start bouncing us through the room.
Finally, my control over the boundary slips, and I’m unable to prevent it from collapsing in on itself as I’m about to push off a wall. Luckily, we’re over the couch as it happens.
Kaitlynn lands heavily on top of me, collapsing in boneless laughter.
I let out a happy sigh, and tug her a little closer against me.
“You okay?” Kaitlynn asks eventually, the sound muffled by the pillows crammed against the sides of my head.
I shake my head. “You flattened me. You’re going to have to roll me up and carry me into the next Trial. I might still be of use as a bludgeoning weapon, or a protective cape, I suppose.”
Kaitlynn snorts, looking down at me with a small, soft smile, that makes my heart skip a beat.
“What?” I deflect reflexively as I feel my cheeks heat up. “Is there something stuck to my face?”
She shakes her head. “No, it’s... nothing. Nevermind.”
My stomach twists, and just when I’m about to foolishly push myself up and kiss her, she climbs off of me.
There’s no denying the disappointment I feel at that.
“Anyway, this is good, really good!” Kaitlynn says as I sit up next to her. “You’ll need a better way to move around though. Do you think you could take a Skilldream for Boreum Manipulation and learn how to make mid-Aether platforms like Dominique?”
“Hmm. Suri, time?”
[You have 16 hours, 57 minutes, and 3 seconds left before you have to start the Trial.]
“Really?” I raise a brow. “That’s a little less than I’d expected.”
Then again, Kaitlynn did already finish her five-hour Skilldream. Man, time flies when you, well, try to fly.
“Is it not enough?” Kaitlynn asks.
I purse my lips. “Boreum Manipulation is a medium-grade Skill belonging to a type of energy that I have zero experience with, so just getting it would take quite some time. Moreover, that technique of Dominique’s looked pretty advanced as well—I’m pretty sure she only partially solidified the Boreum, somehow. I can’t be sure the first level will be enough to learn how to do that. I have a feeling I’ll be better off trying to figure out my own method of moving around, perhaps with the help of Negative Inertial Energy.”
There may be a part of me that just stubbornly wants to find a better method to move around rather than just copy her, but it’s mostly that I don’t think it’ll be practical.
No, really.
“Anyway, how’d it go on your end?” I ask. “Did you gain the second level of Increase Momentum?”
Kaitlynn nods.
“Sweet, up top.” I hold out my hand, and after a beat, Kaitlynn obliges.
I frown at her lack of enthusiasm. “What’s the matter?”
She swallows and looks down to where she’s picking at some imaginary lint on her pants. “I’m just worried about the next Trial, I guess. Don’t get me wrong, your breakthrough is great news, as is my progress, but we’re still...”
“Nowhere near ready,” I say with a sigh. “I hear ya. You’re right, we need to stay focused. How’s this: I’m going to spend some time on a way to move around, you practise your new Skill, then we’ll reconvene to work on a combination attack. Sound good?”
She looks up, a determined glint in her eye, and nods.
“Good. That’s settled, then. But first, let’s eat something.”
After our meal, Kaitlynn faces one of the target dummies and starts to practise throwing her knives with the second level of Increase Momentum. While she’s physically quite capable of throwing the spear I gave her, she’s far more accustomed to tossing her throwing knives, so it’s probably a better idea for her to focus on those, and save the spear for melee.
I watch for a while as I wait for my Qi to fully restore. One downside to this new technique of mine is that it takes a lot of Spatial Energy to make a boundary this thick, which in turn takes a lot of Qi. Currently, I can convert 1 Onkh of Qi into 4 Onkh of Spatial Energy. Making a regular boundary usually takes up between 20 to 40 Onkh of Spatial Energy, depending on the size. Making one this thick takes at least 80 Onkh, preferably more.
At first, this meant I was refilling my Focus Crystal with fresh Qi while trying to maintain the boundary I’d already produced. Then I realised I was being an idiot and took out the medium-sized Yin Focus Crystal we found in the conquered Hoig-village. That one can hold up to 25 Onkh of Qi, which at my current conversion rate, turns into 100 Onkh of Spatial Energy.
Unfortunately, just creating it isn’t enough. The boundary is constantly being pressured by the surrounding Gravity, which eats away at it, so it requires a constant influx of energy to maintain its Gravity-repelling function. I estimate it to be around 10 Onkh of Spatial Energy a minute, meaning 2.5 Onkh of Qi at my current conversion rate.
