Zaraya

Sachihiro passes out on the floor but watching the transition from berserker to normal with aware examination is beyond fascinating, almost everything about him is different when he is in the berserker state. I've been keeping close watch on all my disciplines progress these past 4 ten-days and they have all made steady progress in ether saturation as expected from Erika's latest experiments.

The regiment is still mostly experimental but we can all say without a doubt that those that are carefully undergoing the regiment designed to help people with ether blockades or deprivation helps increase the rate of ether saturation in the unAwakened mundane.

With this information we will be able to help everyone within the conclave Awaken at much earlier stages in their lives and much easier, though that will have it's own impacts on our society and its dynamic.

I close my eyes as I perceive the skills Sachihiro has kept as he fully transitions from berserker to normal.

‎ Sachihiro van Damage

‎ Blessing of Tongues

‎ Class: ---

Specialty : Master Swordsman, Expert Axeman, Justus Spearman, Justus Unarmed combat.

Health : 14%

Mana : --

Stamina : 20%

Vitality : 10%

Endurance : 10%

Strength : 3%

Agility : 6%

Perception : 0%

Reaction : 0.2%

Resistance : Mental 46%, Aura 12%, Spirit 88%, Soul 100%, Physical 2%

Willpower :14%

Intelligence : 100%

Wisdom : 100%

Spirit : 8%

Soul : 67%

Ether : 72%

Abilities : Berserker Rage, Divided Soul, Limit Break

Skills : Spirit Sense - justus, Aura Sense - novice, Spirit Shielding - expert, Spirit Oppression - novice, Spirit Summoning - novice, Spirit Cleanse - justus, Spirit Aura - justus, Mental Shield - novice, Soul Presence - novice, Quiet Mind - novice, Body Awareness - novice.

Spirit Aura : hone, amplify/enhance, protect, healing.

I try to catalogue his skills while I still can and check on his progress these last few ten-days and yes it seems his ether saturation has increased by approximately 2%.

In the short time that he and the others have been following the regiment he has improved greatly and it is amazing to have this rate of ether saturation on any normal human.

If it continues at this rate Sachihiro a 28 or 29 year old young man with only a marginal amount of talent when it comes to ether and mana will become an Awakened within the next 3 years, and that's the pessimistic opinion.

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In Omega children Awaken at the ages of 13 or 14 like its a coming of age indicator or just something to symbolize the passage of time and gaining of adulthood. A world in which everyone and nearly everything is at least a tier 1 Awakened just in adolescents.

This new regiment goes a long way into cutting that gap in power and perspective between us and them. Making it easier for people to Awaken will increase the bar on what is considered powerful on Gaia and the perspective with which we see true power, which currently for most people seems unattainable.

Decreasing the time and expertise it takes to Awaken will also help promote earlier self Awakening so that more hidden or overlooked talents will have an opportunity to Awakening without having to rely on a mentor or master that then requires mana contracts that can stretch on for decades of essentially slave labour.

The number of more competent and specialised people will increase because of course Awakening comes with increased intelligence, beauty and health as a by product not just power. Erika and Eronica have already started implementing the regiment themselves and amongst their more favoured disciples to see what effect it may have on those long since to have Awakened that thought themselves stagnant in their growth.

Everything counts at certain levels where skill sometimes completely trumps power. What Gaia and specifically the Conclave has in abundance currently is skill, at least a great depth of skill at lower levels in comparison to the average person on Omega.

This is because it takes a great deal of effort and skill to move from tier 1 Awakened to tier 2 and then tier 3 and tier 4. Since everyone on Gaia stays in the same tier for decades or even centuries everyone here gets to be more deeply familiar with their class of Awakened compared to those on Omega who gain power quicker and easier.

We have greater depth of skill on average than the creatures on Omega do which is one of the primary reasons so my newly Ascendants survive their first few months there as opposed to dying immediately. And if you last the first several months you automatically achieve the next level of power depending on how close you were whilst still on Gaia, and you achieve what is known as Ascendant level of power, tier 5 power.

*

Sachihiro

I wake up inside a warm viscous liquid with only my face in the open air. I blink my eyes to accommodate to the light and realise I'm in a room with a tree overhead, the tree has a face that's looking down at me disapprovingly, Im not even sure how I know it's disapproving but I do. I try to move but a smooth whip like branch extends from the the creature and pushes down on me indicating I shouldn't move.

Great, I'm being cared for by one of the Oakro and by the smell of it I'm in some sort of sap up to my ears. The oakro are a semi humanoid sapient tree people that are originally from the planet Terra. According to my lectures they are the strongest most resilient humanoid creatures to ever walk the face of Gaia.

They have multitudes of limbs in the form of branches but usually divide the lower portion into two legs but they have no feet seeming to glide with their root branches in and on top of the ground. Their arm limbs are in multitudes and though the Oakro are very slow when moving from one position to another but their branching limbs can move at speeds that any Awakened warrior could respect.

They don't burn due to their sap neutralizing fire and their unsapient cousins the Oakro tree's sap is apparently used on the continent of Terra as a coat on their buildings to ward against fire damage.

A contraption is placed in my mouth by the Oakro person before he/it/she starts pushing my head slowly into the sap fully. "Relax, and use the mouthpiece to breath." Zaraya projects to my mind from somewhere and my struggling ceases.

My head goes down and I close my eyes being completely submerged in whatever this thick sap is and I test the mouthpiece pulling in a deep breath and pushing it back out.

"Meditate on your body, learn what there is to learn about it's condition without seeing, without being told, I'll be right out here most of the time." She projects again and I do as advised, slowly sinking into a meditative mind before trying to focus on my body.

It isn't usually easy to feel your body as a person especially without outside stimuli. We as people usually have to touch ourselves or be touched by others or the environment to feel our skin and other organs. This is mostly because the senses are mainly the domain of the subconscious mind and without there being anything wrong for the subconscious to report it runs everything without bothering the conscious mind.

Like all things human though, we can learn to actively quest our bodies for information on a conscious level and I do so. First things that clear is that my body is a wreck and since the Conclave doesn't have access to powerful fae magic like absolute restore , it takes a while to fully treat such deep damage.

My muscles are shredded and inflamed all over my body, my bones have stress fractures at places, my tendons and ligaments and strained and even snapped at places. It's almost as though I did everything during that fight without honing with aura to protect my body but I was.

So how much more would I have broken myself if I hadn't learnt to use spirit aura to hone? Another point for visualization training which helped me combine my vast spirit abilities with my meager aura ability to create spirit aura and all it's benefits.

After becoming fully aware of the state my body is in I sigh inwardly and try to think on my experience with my Rage this time, it seems to be slightly different each time though. Like each time I spend in the Rage my berserker rage personality matures a bit more because the first Rage I experienced after the forging was completely indifferent to all and that scared me.

But it seems my Rage state is gaining a personality as I experience it and spend more and more time in it. Maybe like Om I should try to induce the Rage outside of combat experiences, maybe by doing so it will learn to be less psychopathic. I will learn to be less psychopathic whilst in the Rage I should say.

I look deep within myself as I send my spirit sense questing and I feel and hear the him of my zanpakutō not far from me. "What are you doing Sachi?" Zaraya asks in my mind.

"What better opportunity to get to know my berserker self than when I am almost incapacitated in the care of one of the strongest creatures on the planet?" I project back as me and my monster connect, me and both my monsters connect.

I open my eyes as I sink into the Rage and immediately try to billow out a cry even as I push myself upright with a strength that seems impossible for my physical state but the Oakro is there to push me back down into the viscous liquid. I Rage and fight captor with everything I have further fracturing my arm bones as I try to summon my blade.

"I'm here, relax, no one will hurt you, I'm here, I'm watching over you." I don't immediate recognize the voice but it calms me down slightly as I assess the situation I'm in with vibration sense and soul presence . I can't summon my blade because I don't have enough spirit energy remaining for that action but I have enough to keep my mind protected from outside influence.

I'm in a large open space with multiple other stone tubs similar to the one I'm in all around. The Oakro is a very big and powerful creature standing at well above what I can determine being submerged as I am but I can see/feel Zaraya and another person... Shea, yes that is Shea that spoke a person of some consequence to me I gather.

The mouthpiece is placed back in my mouth and I start breathing again as I contemplate my situation. I have never not had a blade in hand while in the Rage and the distinction seems to me important, monumental.

I calm myself down and as I do I realize Shea is still talking to me, I start paying attention as she talks of her life in the Underworld.