Chapter 4
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
The skill book.. Wait what was his name? M… Mi… ah fuck it. The book he gave me is extremely hard to read since it’s so old, the words are fading but I can still make out what it's generally saying.
The first 8ish pages are all explaining the skill and how to use it, when to use it and something about it requiring talent and not being something anyone could learn. The following a page or so of sub skills to the main “strength of the colossus”. There was also around 20 pages of unused paper.
The bulk of the explanation was revolving around how it works, the book goes into extreme detail about how the body has 64 exits for magical power and that the main exits is the hands, feet and chest. Normally all 64 are always open and slowly release it through all of them at once and that magic is casted by focusing on 1-4 of the exits to create something. By releasing more magical power from your hands less will flow out from your feet and vice versa.
It also explains that magical power is what converts mana into something physical which is why you need to test your affinity as the conversion to a specific magic is a lot easier than others, making that specific type easier to learn and use.
The book also outlines all the exits within the human body, 8 on each leg, 8 on each arm, 14 on your chest and back with 2 on your neck and 2 on your head. It then explains how to fully close an exit followed by how to open them up again. Supposedly you can close each individual exit by clogging it with your magical power, so it’s less closing more blocking. The way to open it is to forcefully break through the plugs with other magical power.
Since all 64 are usually open magical power can flow through your entire body however when you clog 63 of them they are forced to exit through the 1 remaining hole. For example if the last remaining hole is on the palm of your hand all the power will flow towards it and by controlling it you can essentially morph the pure power into a damaging source.
Honestly when reading this I simply pictured a rasen-copyrighted from the popular ninja show without the rotation part. It then began to explain the basic use of the skill, after some of the magic power had condensed and leaked from the single exit I could cover my hand with it, or just leave it condensed and after it making contact will cause a slight explosion. What makes it even better is that as i envisioned before with the cannon I can legit just launch this stuff from the exits making it a ranged attack, even if it does less damage the further it travels.
I didn’t even bother reading the sub skills as I would be too focused on succeeding rather than learning. With that thought I ended up in the forest by the rock wall again, I sat down and crossed my legs as the book mentioned this was the easiest way to close all of the exits.
“Take control of the power within your body and feel the outside of the exit, after learning the size continue to condense it within the exit until it expands to a limit in which nothing can escape from it, continue doing this until 63 has been covered.” This was what the book recommended to do for learning.
I immediately tried to “feel” the magical power but couldn’t, honestly i felt pretty stupid. Kind of like someone who believed in a fortune teller when they said they will be rich if they buy some ring for 1000$...
Regardless of my feelings I continued to try finding a hint at this magical power, until I thought of my only skill, teleporting. After making sure nobody was around I stood up and teleported trying to see if the magical power was used or I could feel something. I didn’t and sat back down in a slightly annoyed mood. Seeing as I wasn’t getting anywhere in 10 or so minutes I gave up, I doubted I even needed to feel it as long as the exits all got clogged.
And so I began to simply imagine the holes clogging. A dense circle at the entrance which continued to swell until it’s completely filled and won’t move. After a couple of minutes of this i was about to give up but I began to feel something odd which continuously got worse. This is the first time i’ve felt something like this, it’s as if i'm controlling the blood flowing in my body. Normally you’ll never feel the blood moving through you due to the nerves not touching it but I can actually feel the difference since it's gone.
As it felt really weird I immediately started smashing other magical power into the clog to dislodge it and after a couple seconds it was and my foot went back to normal as if nothing happened.
“What in the fuck, the book said nothing about how it felt so i assumed it wouldn’t be weird... “
I let out a short sigh but regardless I still need to practice, in all honesty I don’t even know if this’ll even be useful but I’ve got time to kill on the trip there so until I get to the academy i'll invest all my time into this, even then i may still invest some time into it if the academy is boring.
With that I started to clog the exit on my foot again, after a minute i felt the familiar feeling of the lack of movement in my foot. I left it like that and stood up. Surprisingly I walked normally, well I guess it’s not that surprising considering nothing physically changed about my foot but still, It felt so weird and awkward.
Honestly this wasn’t getting anywhere so I decided to close all the exits on my legs. After an hour or so I’d clogged all the exits on my legs. One on the bottom of the foot and one on the top of it, one on my calf and knee followed by 4 around my thigh. After closing a quarter of the exits i finally started to “feel” the magical power in my body. It felt as if a some type of gas was flowing through my body and exiting wherever it could, which was the top half of my body and as a result the remaining gas in my legs escaped to the top half leaving it empty.
I stood up without any trouble and began walking around without any issues, after testing running and jumping as well there was only one last thing to to try, teleporting. I snapped my fingers and looked 3 feet ahead and ended up there immediately. No issues here either…
Seeing as doing this caused no defects I decided to start closing the rest of the exits besides the one on my right palm. This didn’t take nearly as long since I was able to actually feel it this time and so after around 20 minutes all that was left was the one on my palm. All the power was rushing straight for this exit and it felt as if a breeze was going from it, even though nobody else or even I would physically feel the breeze.
I then re-read how to control the magical power around my hand.
“After closing 63 of the 64 exits you will clearly feel the power flowing out, you do not want to close this but rather control it. After it exits your palm do not grasp at it or try to physically tie it down as you will look incredibly stupid and it won’t work. Envision a cube in which it will flow into, the power will bend to your will and will stay in that shape. After completing the cube condense it until it can no longer be condensed any further. At this point stop the flow of magic power coming from your palm, do not clog simply will it to stop flowing, after completing this you may morph the condensed cube into whatever you want, a sphere, trapezoid, blade or simply cover your hand in it.”
I looked at my palm and began to envision a cube with an entrance by the exit, seeing as I didn’t feel the power staying in it I took a different approach and imagined a cage. This cage was in the shape of a cube and wouldn’t allow it to roam free. After a minute of trying to essentially capture it i took a break and thought about it again as it was still not working.
Is a cage physically tieing it down? Would that mean capturing it is out of the question? If i’m not capturing it but i need it in an enclosed area to condense it further to use it as a weapon then what would it be considered? Inviting? You can’t invite something without a will of its own… Wait does it have a will? To escape? To roam free? Wait if it wants to roam free keeping it in an enclosed area wouldn’t work, so I need to let it roam free while keeping it in one place? A loop then? Might as well try it.
Just as I had envisioned a cube I began to make a loop with an entrance by my palm. Unlike the cube I immediately felt the presence of something being there followed by the magical power flowing into it. It continued to fill up until I felt the power leaking everywhere again and proceeded to stop filling it. The next step was to condense it, and so I thought of making it smaller and smaller until it was the size of a ring. After some time passed I didn’t feel it getting any smaller so I just held it, it started to swell so I walked to a nearby tree and smashed my palm into it. The book said that hitting something with this would cause an explosion, honestly I thought it was going to be something small.
When I hit the tree that was about 6 inches wide it completely obliterated it shooting bark and a wind in every direction later causing the tree to fall over leaving a lightly smoking stump about 5 feet tall. After examining the damage in awe I decided I shouldn’t use trees as test dummies but instead the wall of rock I was using earlier.
I made another look while walking to the wall and started filling it with magic power, this time the loop was a lot bigger than the last time and it took nearly 10 minutes to fill. I continued to condense it until it wouldn’t get any smaller, I continued to thrust my palm at the rock.
The second I made contact with it a loud explosion went off and the ground shook under my feet, the actual rock wall was spewing chunks of rock and the debris was smashing into trees lodging themselves into it. A few seconds later I was surrounded by a massive amount of dust and unable to see the damage I dealt. I waited a long time before the dust finally disappeared, but the destruction was a lot more than what i expected.
There was about a 10 foot circle of damage from where I hit the wall, it went around 5 feet deep so basically I made a small cave which I could literally walk into. This test at least confirmed some of my worries, it was going to damage, and lots of it.
There was one more step on the list to do before I could start using actual; subskills for this though. I had to morph the magical power from a ring to wrap around my hand, i honestly didn’t know the reason for it but seeing as it was recommended I might as well do it.
I created another ring closer to the size of the first one I did and after filling it tried to change the shape. I felt it bend and move but it generally stayed in the shape of a loop, just slightly deformed. I decided to thin out the ring and expand it until I could put it around my wrist. Luckily it worked out and I pushed my hand through it.
After a lot of trial and error I eventually created a glove of this magical power, i felt the moving of the condensed power but didn’t feel a breeze and when i moved my hand around it didn’t cause an explosion. This meant I could cover myself in this and when anybody hit me they’d explode on contact. An impenetrable defense against people who can’t use magic or ranged attacks.
This brought another question, will it stay around my hand if i teleport? The question interested me and so I prepared to attack the wall again, this time with a little combo.
I got in a position to punch something with my right hand and as soon as I started the punch I snapped my fingers, teleporting right in front of the wall and following through with my punch. Upon making contact a smaller explosion ensued with rocks flying out and dust swarming around me.
“Success” I said while a smile grew on my face. With this I created a small combo while also finishing what I believe were the basics of the book. All that was left is a break and the sub skills. There really was a lot of them though…
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
----------------------------------------
Sub skill Name
Actions/amount needed to cast
Damage
What the subskill will do after cast
Colossal Touch
Weave 2 ounces of magical power into each hand
N/A
Allow the caster to physically interact with Magical power
Colossal Vision
Weave 0.5 ounces of magical power into the eye
N/A
Allow caster to see Magical power
Punch of a Colossus
Uses 6 Ounces of magical power to surround hand in magical power after striking something it will explode
500
Envelopes the desired hand with magical power
Kick of a Colossus
Uses 8 Ounces To cover a leg in magical power, explodes on contact.
600
Envelopes the desired leg in magical power
Armor of the Colossus
Uses 60 Ounces of magical power to completely cover body acting as armor
N/A
Envelopes caster in condensed Magical power protecting them from, only explodes by using sub skill explode
Lance of the Colossus
Create an arrow made of 2 Ounces from magical power which can pierce targets, can cast sub skill explode at anytime
400- (Feet traveled*10)
Minimum of 75 Damage
Launch an arrow of magical power that can impale targets, only explodes by using sub skill explode
Blade of the Colossus
Use 8 Ounces to create a blade, this can be used with sub skill colossal touch to actually wield it
450 damage per slash, 550 per stab.
Create a blade of magical power which can slash and stab at targets, only explodes by using sub skill explode
Wall of Protection
After condensing morph 12 ounces of magical power into 1 foot of wall, can increase size with higher amounts
N/A
Creates a Wall of magical power that casts subskill “explode” on contact
Explode
Immediately cause the condensed magical power to explode, to cast simply say the word explode while thinking of what you want to explode
300 * (1 + # of counces/10)
Damage lowers based on distance away from center
All released magical power will explode
Speed of the Colossus
Weave 16 ounces of magical power into the muscles in both legs
N/A
Condensed Magical power enters the muscles allowing them to move twice as fast
Colossal Walking
Weave 4 ounces of magical power into the soles of your feet allowing you to walk on magical power.
N/A
Enters the casters legs allowing them to walk upon any released magic power
----------------------------------------
Isn’t the damage for these a little too high? I mean my health was only at like 400 or whatever last time I checked. Then again I have extremely low dexterity, eh I just can’t take damage, not that hard of a task considering my teleport skill. Regardless colossal vision will be extremely useful when practicing this as the amount needed seems pretty specific, however it also seems pretty dangerous weaving it into my eyes.
Guess I’ll practice on my hand first with colossal touch. As I had no idea what 2 ounces of magical power was I decided to just get a lot of it ready and stop using it after my hand was done. I spent 5 minutes filling up my loop before condensing it which I felt was a decent amount. I continued to change the shape and width until it was the size of a string, afterwards I started going in and out of my skin with this string.
It sounded quite painful and I winced thinking if it was real, but in reality i felt nothing. Not even a slight tingling to show I was doing it right. But i knew very well it was working as some of it hit the finger I just weaved through and I was able to feel the magical power in shape of a string. It had the consistency of jello but it easily changed shape to meet my will. I really wanted to play with some of it, but that would have to wait till later.
I continued to weave in and out until my entire hand was weaved through. Seeing as my hand still worked the same and the only difference was being able to touch magical power I decided to start right away on colossal vision as I still had a bunch left over from weaving in my hand. I didn’t know what exactly to weave for my eye so i only did the pupil to start. Seeing as nothing changed I began to weave through the Iris as well, still nothing changed which i guess makes sense considering that doesn’t enable one to see. I then began to weave through to my optic nerve further back in the eye which directly controls what the brain sees.
This resulted in a change of my vision within my right eye, the one I was weaving through. I couldn’t see out of it anymore, I was pretty sure I wasn’t blind since I could still make out colors and lights but something was blocking it. Normally I would panic but seeing as I caused this while weaving I must have messed up somewhere. So I immediately began to undo what I had done, but instead of starting with undoing the part in the optic nerve I started with the pupil as nothing changed when i weaved through it.
After removing all the “string” I was able to mostly see again, however there was still something blocking the centre of my vision which I thought was the Iris but after removing it the center was still being blocked. I realized how stupid I was after recognizing I weaved into the optic nerve by going through the pupil and after removing that as well but going through the corner of my eye instead I was finally able to see magical power.
It didn’t have a specific color to it but rather a glow or a radiance allowing me to see the outline of the power. As a result I did what any other mature 14 year old would do.
I made a penis. A floating, glowing penis. After making it I sighed at my own maturity and change it back to a loop. I was able to see it moving through the loop as the radiance shifted and moved with it, I looked down at my hand to see it radiating the same way as the loop and smiled before touching it. The loop felt like jello as I squished it and shook it, it didn’t break or change form after releasing it. With this I questioned whether or not the two piercing sub skills would actually do anything with this jello like consistency.
Regardless I’m tired and need a break, so I found a small hill and laid back onto it looking at the sky. It was becoming lighter out meaning it was probably around 5 in the morning. Meaning I probably had another couple hours before I had to leave. Guess it was time to give the book back to the big guy, that and thank him again for letting me use it. With that I took 5 more minutes to relax before going back to his shop.
When I got there the sign still said closed but a light was on in the back room so i tried opening the door, which it complied.
“Oi oi oi.. Can’t you read? The sign clearly says… Oh it's you! It’s tough right? But I can’t help you! I can’t even use it myself so just keep trying till you get it!” He seemed to get the wrong idea for my visit…
“Uh, that's not it. I’m here to thank you for the book and give it back, I learned the basics and the two important sub skills, the rest should be fairly easy to learn later. Regardless thanks a lot, this book must be extremely valuable and for you to lend it to me is an honor I don’t think I can repay.” After I finished I took the book out and held it out for him.
He didn’t take it though, just kind of stood there silently with a confused expression on his face.
“I’m sorry, you learned the basics and 2 sub skills? In 1 night? I can’t believe that kid. No I won’t believe it.” He shook his head as if to confirm this with himself rather than me.
“Uh, I can show you if you really want… it’s pretty loud and causes a lot of damage so i’d rather not do it here though…”
“Haha don’t worry, there's no way you’ve actually learned it so just hit the wall there, it’s made of stone so go all out.” He pointed to the left of me where an empty wall stood. I shrugged and walked over to the wall. I created my loop and thought of what to do while filling it.
I can just use the loop and smash it, or I can use colossal punch… nah it’s gotta be more impressive than a punch.. Guess i'll try colossal lance. After it filled to be what looked like 2 ounces i began to shape it into an arrow, around 3 minutes passed before I was ready.
“I’ll be starting now” He nodded shortly after I said that and I launched the arrow towards the wall. It dug into the wall and cracks formed all around it.
“Hmm, is that all? I thought it would be more than that kid.” he said that with a big grin on his face as if he’d won something but I quickly smiled back at him with a devilish grin.
“Explode”. The arrow that was lodged into the wall immediately glowed a bright light before exploding. Pieces of the wall flew towards us, one of the pieces actually hitting him in the cheek, cutting it.
I stood there in silence while he tried to understand what happened. After what seemed like a minute of silence passed he finally said something.
“Well… maybe I should have listened to you and done this elsewhere… haha.” He finished his sentence with a defeated laugh and sat down in his chair.
“Well sir, thanks again for the book but I must be going now, my ride will be leaving in an hour or so and I really don’t want to be late as the person i’m travelling with may start to throw a tantrum.” With that I left the book on the table and started towards the door.
“Hey kid, you're not taking the book with you? It’s yours now you know,” I turned to look at him but he was serious. “The people who have practiced this before you all leave a new sub skill of their own, some leave a lot and some leave few. Regardless this is a 2000 year old technique and is still being cultivated. Please add onto the legacy of the colossus.”
With that he handed to book out to me. “Sure. I’ll had to the book and continue its legacy.” I really didn’t know what else to say so after grabbing it I turned and started heading to the door. I waved my hand as i said “Thanks, and sorry about your wall”
I left to the sound of him laughing.
As i started walking to the meeting area I noticed how hungry I actually was. Seeing as I neglected it for around 8 hours I really needed some food. Sadly it was to early for any of the shops to be open so i laid down on a bench waiting for Rissa to come. She said she knew a good sweets shop and I wanted some now… ahhh cake, how I miss you.
I laid down on the bench for awhile, watching clouds and fantasizing about cake and other sorts of desserts and sweets until I heard the familiar voice of a girl calling out to me.
“Please don’t tell me you slept out here all night.” I looked over to see rissa standing close to me with a judgmental look on her face.
“Pfft, no. I haven’t actually slept yet. As i told you before, I was busy.” She rolled her eyes at this and continued to judge me, maybe more than before.
“I'm hungry, you know of any good shops for sweets around here?” I smiled a little at this question which she proceeded to sigh.
“Alright follow me, you damn cake junkie” She started to walk down the street and I quickly got up and followed her.
She was wearing a blue dress with a bow in her hair with some white socks that went up to her knees. A pretty good combination compared to my loose pants and a tee shirt.
I followed her down a couple of streets before ending up at a basic looking shop with a sign that read “Bailey’s Bakery”. She walked in and I followed, a bell ringed and a woman at the counter looked up towards us.
“How’s it going, what Can I do for ya today?”
Rissa looked over at me to confirm what I wanted but I was a step ahead of her.
“I want a regular sized vanilla cake, 6 rolls covered in butter and two pastries.” The shopkeeper totalled everything up and and smiled.
“26 Copper please.” I handed over a silver coin and she visibly sighed but didn’t let it out as it would be rood. She counted out 74 copper and handed it back before handing me everything but the cake.
“I’ll have to make the cake now, You said vanilla I assume you want that for the batter and Icing?”
“Yup”
“Ok it’ll be ready in a hour or so.” With that she walked into the back, disappearing behind a set of doors.
“Seriously Sayn, an entire cake at 6 in the morning? Why aren’t you fat…” She looked down at the last part, hiding her saddening expression. However I simply shrugged and sat down at a nearby booth, as we were the only ones inside the shop so we could choose any seat we wanted.
“You want a pastry?” I held out one of the pastries but she shook her head. “I already ate”.
With that decided I enjoyed my meal. After finishing I looked up at the clock to see I still had to wait 40 Minutes.
“So as fun as sitting around is, What have you done while being here?” A simple question, but us sitting here in silence was awkward so i decided to break it.
“Oh, uh I just stayed at the inn, they had a bath which was nice but other than that there wasn’t much for me to do, however I’m surprised you had something to do, what exactly was it? If you don’t mind me asking that is... “ She started to mumble the last part.
“Ah I guess I can tell you, I was learning a new skill throughout the night from one of the locals. It’s a pretty good skill to, only cost me 9 silver… AH! I didn’t pay him the last 6 silver! Shit can you watch my cake? Err i mean if it finishes early bring it to the meeting spot, thanks!” I immediately dashed out of the room before she could respond, I blasted through the door and stepped out, running right into something which proceeded to fall.
“Oi kid, what do you think you're doing knocking over one of my boys?”
“Ah that really hurt boss, I might need to visit a hospital… ahhh it hurts.” The man I toppled over rubbed his foot for some reason. Honestly I really wanted to laugh seeing how much of a cliche this is. Normally I would be more understanding… but I kinda wanted to test out my new skill.
“Hmm, So you got hurt by a 14 year old? Adults really are pathetic nowadays huh?” I smiled a little while saying this which seemed to bother the man on the ground as he immediately stood up.
“Huh?!? Who would be hurt by some little kid like you?” The guy was maybe 6 inches taller than me so he was looking down on me, he was also about twice the width I was, luckily most of which was fat.
“So you're not hurt? Perfect! I’ll be on my way then.” I did a slight nod to the man and walked around him. Sadly the other 6 people surrounded me as I did so.
“Look kid, don’t mess with us. Seeing as you're probably not from here I’ll explain it to you. We run these streets, and currently you're bothering US on OUR turf, so your gonna get roughed up a little. Don’t resist and we’ll make it quick.” The man from earlier began to smile as he walked towards me. Looks like I'll be able to test out my new skill today.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------