This new aura took a bit of ntal fortitude and manipulation to get used too. I would believe I had mastered it enough to move, only to have it fizzle out and dissolve as soon as I tried, or worse, transition into Beleros Aura and heal everything in range. It would have been nice if the System nu ca with controls. A slider or on-off switch, but there wasn't a toggle I could turn on, or a cheat that would allow System to take over and handle the aura. I had managed to create a new spell, now I had to master it.
Deciding to incorporate the tricks I'd used when I'd entered the Ring of Hidden Depth's alternate realm, I sat down and began ditating. It was easy enough for to activate the aura, my will, focus, and intent were firmly established, I just needed to create a magical 'muscle' mory to ingrain the spell into my magical matrix.
Pathways and circulation channels needed to be ford within my magical neural net so that this aura was an instinctive ability, it needed to beco intrinsic, sothing so deeply rooted that it beca as much a part of as Belenos Aura.
Because Aura's worked differently than spells creating an Aura was just the first step. With a spell, casting ended once intent was released. With Aura's intent was both the end of the process and the beginning. It was really similar to a kind of computer program that looped.
Cyronax Aura Intent = Input (Will)
While Cyronax Aura Intent = = 0:
Then Cyronax Aura Intent = Off
While Cyronax Aura Intent = = 1:
Then Cyronax Aura Intent = On
I needed to soft-code a toggle that allowed to turn the aura on and off at will, and as long as I choose to keep the aura active, make sure the aura would continue to radiate.
There were a few other fiddly bits I needed to work through. Knowing how to extend the aura, how much power was required for a specific radius. What and how much the temperature of the surrounding area was affected. And if the aura acted differently towards living organisms, liquids, and materials.
Having the ring helped. After hours of attempting to get control without using the Ring of Depths, I had given up and entered. Using the teaching Entity and the ti dilation allowed to practice and perfect my control. If not for the ring's advantages, in order for to master Cyronax Aura would an that the process had to take place in the real world and required real-ti considerations.
Ti was not subjective. Still, between learning to understand the function of the Aura, testing my success in the real world, it still took ti. And as I practiced, the passage of day to night, and night to day passed for all of us. I would have hated to have tried this without the functionality of the ring that allowed what was really a tedious process, to be done in a matter of seconds.
The task was frustrating, advances occurring slowly. Beleros Aura did not want to play nice with Cyronax, but painstakingly, I made progress.
I created the pathways and circulated the energies needed to build a stable infrastructure of magical conduits that would allow to internalize the process and automate it. The process, using ditation, perception, and my entire concentration took a little over 28 hours.
[Cyronax Aura Journeyman Rank.]
System's notification took the guesswork out of my accomplishnt. I knew I had succeeded in leveling up the Aura to a useable level.
I was famished and parched by the ti I finally released my will. My body was screaming at demanding both nourishnt and water. I desperately needed to use the restroom. And my legs had cramped from sitting in a lotus position, the pain excruciating as blood flow was restored.
I had no idea how those cultivation masters I'd read about in Manga or Wuxia managed to sit for days, months, and years, without muscle atrophy occurring. They were always able to spring up fresh and capable, no matter how long they had spent cultivating. I suppose it was the difference between reality and fiction. You could get away with anything in a novel. But for , I had to send a blast of healing magic towards my legs in order to ease the cramps and allow to stand.
I held off on experinting and validating my mastery of Cyronax Aura. My conviction that I had progressed and mastered the aura was secondary, and really unneeded after the System notification, but my next attempt to circumvent the Maze's protection would wait until I t my body's need for food and water.
My hunger was such that even Sidhe trail rations, rations that ca in two forms was satisfying. The first type was pretty standard, very like a trail mix compacted and pressed into wedges, it tasted amazing. Nuts, dried fruits, honey, and so type of grain that was oatal-like in appearance and taste made for a protein bar very similar to sothing I might find on Earth.
There was also jerky stored, but I had never been a fan, the taste not sothing I enjoyed, and I was happy I wouldn't need to taste test this product, because while the trail mix had eased my imdiate hunger pangs, there was actually a stew available.
While I had been in ditation and experinting, the rest of my party had set up camp. Unsure how long I would need, they had organized a hunt, established a cook-site, and soone had enough field experience to make a campfire stew.
The jerky which had been reconstituted with so freshwater was thankfully soon replaced by fresh at. Tubers and root vegetables had been foraged to add to the pot, as well as so of the trail mix.
The result was a complexity of taste and sll that was comparable to anything Jennie had made for us. It was probably the freshness of the ingredients that had been gathered from the surroundings that added the depth of flavor and created a taste profile that was steeped in earthiness.
Cordyceps, a rare caterpillar fungus on Earth, were abundant and plentiful on Talahm. The ingredient could be harvested from every other tree it seed. The easy availability of this unique food item didn't detract from the richness of the broth. The ingredient allowed for umami to develop and complent the complexity of the soup, a taste sensation that any Master-class Chef would be envious of.
It was interesting that an ingredient that I would never have been able to afford on Earth was used as almost a throwaway seasoning here. More a condint than a rarity. It was just one more difference between the two planets.
But at least this one was pleasant.
Reviews
All reviews (0)