- # # # 1 # # # -
It had been mandated by Ryuto and Ramento that Rocko had as minimal contact with the villagers as possible until he got his specialty under control, for the villagers’ safety.
So why was it that Ryuto brought him along for the Morning Harvest, exactly?
Ryuto even had him separated from everyone else and took him to a more remote part of the forest, away from the others. If he was just going to keep Rocko away from everyone anyway, why bring him up at all?
Well, the answer to that was simple.
As Ryuto explained to him when they got there, “Your specialty is triggered by strong emotions, including curiosity. This is the only way I could think of to start training it without causing problems.”
Those intentions were also the likely reason why Ryuto had physically distanced himself from Rocko.
Rocko’s eyes were wide and his mouth was agape in a beaming smile.
He had long-sought an opportunity to explore the forest unhindered and find all its secrets. What did Tree Hoppers look like up close? What were the red trees that everyone always avoided? Why did sunlight split into rainbows when it passed through the streams the fish swam in? How did the streams float in the first place? Why did the fish like it there? Why didn’t the birds? How did the birds fly? What were those crazy looking plants on the ground? What about those white disc things that sometimes stuck out of trees? What about...
He had so many questions, none of which was he ever able to answer... until that day. He was finally presented with an opportunity to find those answers.
With a radiant smile and a burst of thunder, he vanished. The branch he stood on took severe damage, with many splinters and wood chunks flying through the space that was previously occupied by Rocko.
Rocko rapidly teleported around the forest, damaging each branch, inspecting every thing. It took mere seconds before Ryuto had to chase him down just to keep up with him. At that rate, it seemed as if Rocko might end up leaving the Mother Root without even trying.
However, by the time Ryuto caught up to Rocko, that risk subsided... but it was replaced by a risk far worse.
- # # # 2 # # # -
In the distance was a red tree — the subject of one of Rocko’s many burning questions about the forest, a tree that everyone avoided every time they went up to the forest.
Why did they avoid it?
Rocko knew he probably should, as well, but he was too curious. Especially because, as far as he knew, the most fundamental leaf in the village came from that species of tree.
There were plenty of red trees in the forest, but this was the first one he spotted during his curiosity-induced teleportations. Naturally, he teleported straight to it. It wasn’t even a matter of whether he should or shouldn’t avoid it, his specialty wouldn’t let him, he was too curious about it.
The reason he called it a ‘red tree’ was because all of its leaves were red, and it had bulging red-glowing veins spanning along its trunk and branches. If you took these two elements away, visually speaking, it would look almost like a perfectly normal tree — at least, if ‘perfectly normal’ were defined as the trees the villagers typically used to traverse the forest. Like those trees, the red tree’s branches grew out the sides of its trunk, it had a similar height, similar girth, similarly long branches which were also wide enough to stand on. Everything about it was basically the same, save for the red leaves and veins.
Rocko was already familiar with the red leaves themselves, though. They were used frequently in the village, often as construction material and especially for water containment. They were flexible, nonabsorbent, and resilient. He had no interest in them.
What interested him the most about the tree were the large red veins that traced its form. The veins were more than half the size of the average branch and ran up its entire trunk, extending onto some branches. Not all branches had them, but the ones that did would be difficult to stand on without touching the vein itself.
However, that wasn’t a problem for Rocko, who was there to inspect them in the first place. Even if it was, it wasn’t as though he had a choice, as just with his specialty unwillingly taking him to the tree, it also unwillingly took him to a branch that was more-than-half red vein.
The part of the red vein that resided next to him had burst open upon his arrival, and bright red viscous fluid oozed out with great quantity, as if it were being slowly pumped.
Lightheadedness overtook Rocko, who struggled to maintain balance. He stumbled forward on the branch, and fell to his knees with his hands forward for support.
The world flickered in and out. Bright and dim. The world beyond the tree had gone dark, and the tree itself appeared as though it were slowly evaporating.
What was happening?
He still had enough awareness to question the logic behind this event, and everything felt real, so he probably wasn’t dreaming.
When he turned his head upward, he saw massive stars booming into place, forming a crown around the tree’s trunk.
A star here. A star there. More stars. More stars! Stars filled the entire world! There were stars everywhere!
Out from a large hole in the trunk of the tree crawled a few Ayos and Ryutos. All of them had pinkish red glowing eyes.
How did that make any sense? There was definitely only one Ayo and only one Ryuto, and neither of them could teleport or move fast enough to get inside the trunk of the very tree Rocko randomly teleported to. Furthermore, while Ryuto’s eyes could glow red, neither of their eyes glowed that kind of red.
The Ryutos and Ayos opened their mouths as they aimed their faces in different directions, and emitted a strange, shrill noise.
Alarm bells went off inside Rocko. Whatever was going on, he knew he had to run.
One of the Ayos faced Rocko’s way. As soon as their shrill voice reached him, they charged his way, followed by the other Ayos and Ryutos.
Rocko groggily got to his feet with haste, turned, and ran.
He almost immediately tripped and fell into the red fluid that oozed from the vein. His field of vision worsened.
He turned to look behind him, and was met with a Ryuto with its mouth, full of razor sharp teeth, wide open and ready to bite.
It was a red creature with...
Away.
It was Ryuto with razor sharp...
He had to get away.
It was...
Everything went black.
- # # # 3 # # # -
There was only darkness.
Rocko felt no pain — at least, not physically. Neither did he feel any sense of up or down. Any ground. Anything.
Did... he die?
Well, despite there being only darkness, he could somehow see himself in perfectly flat color. So, no. He didn’t die.
He was in the Void.
It was one trippy experience after another.
He felt sick.
He just wanted to get away.
Almost as soon as he had entered the Void, he left it.
When Rocko returned, he quickly realized he was on a branch of the next tree over from the red tree. He had moved practically nowhere at all.
He looked over to the red tree. He needed to know what that swarm of ‘Ryutos’ and ‘Ayos’ really was.
It was a swarm of small, fuzzy, reddish brown creatures. They had long bodies, four legs with three clawed toes each, a long hairless tail, and disproportionately sized, vertical, saucer-shaped heads.
Some of their saucer heads were vertically split open, and underneath was a tiny mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.
They had no eyes. Along the edges of their saucer shaped heads were red glowing orbs.
As soon as he registered what he was looking at, his head was struck with sharp pain.
He clasped his head as his vision blurred.
It was night.
He was in someone’s arms.
Who were they?
He had no memory of that person.
Their eyes glowed green. They were running with him in their arms.
Behind them was a swarm of... those creatures. Their saucer heads open, their orbs glowing brightly.
Evil.
Evil.
Evil.
Evil.
His head ached.
There was blood everywhere.
That person... who were they?
They had stripes.
Who... was... she...?
Missing flesh. Ripped flesh. Spilled blood. Exposed bone.
His head could explode.
His vision blurred.
It was day.
He was on a branch.
He overlooked a red tree with a swarm of...
He finally returned to reality, and he immediately vomited.
Even after having regained consciousness, the nausea didn’t subside. He had to get up. He had to leave, but the bile just kept coming.
Evil.
Evil.
Evil.
Evil creatures.
He had to run.
He had to run immediately.
He couldn’t let them catch him.
Somehow he built up the willpower to run.
Even as he vomited, he ran.
He aimlessly swung from branch to branch. He didn’t even know for sure if they were still following him or not. He just knew he had to get as far away from them as possible.
After a few branches too many, Rocko ran out of breath and had no choice but to slow to a halt.
As he took his breather, he finally turned behind him, and saw that he had long lost them.
In fact, for all he knew, they never even left the red tree to begin with.
Even so, he was glad to have gotten away.
But where he ended up was a bit... odd.
The branch he was on definitely had green foliage on it. There was no denying that. Yet, the tree it was attached to otherwise had entirely yellow leaves.
Why was the branch he was on the only one with green leaves?
It intrigued him.
As he moved, he accidentally brushed by one of the green leaves of his branch.
In an instant, all of the smaller branches and their leaves closed over the branch like a ribcage. They tightly held him in place, having trapped him inside.
“Wh-what?!” Rocko exclaimed.
He was facing towards the trunk of the tree, where a gaping mouth full of razor sharp teeth, opened almost as wide as the tree trunk itself, and the branch quickly pulled him towards it.
As he entered its gaping, razor-strewn maw, everything went black.
The Void welcomed him once again.
- # # # 4 # # # -
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Ryuto could only watch as Rocko was swarmed by the horde of evil red vermin, but just before they could begin their feast, Rocko vanished alongside the nearest creatures with a dense mist of blood, viscera, and wooden splinters.
Ryuto had lost track of Rocko soon after that, and ran around searching in blind panic before he was knocked off a branch with the sound of a boom. His ears rang and thus he was robbed of the ability to hear.
His fall ended almost as soon as it began. He hung in the air, trying to recover his senses.
Before he realized it, he was already back on the branch, facing a panicked Rocko.
Thank Ruter. Rocko was still alive. With that confirmed, Ryuto could calm down.
Though he couldn’t hear Rocko’s voice, he could hear Rocko’s thoughts. As his ears continued to ring, and he continued to gather his spatial awareness, he thought to Rocko, Don’t worry, Rocko. I’m fine. Just give me a moment to get my head together.
With that, Rocko seemed to calm down.
After a moment, Ryuto’s ears finally stopped ringing. He climbed to his feet and looked to Rocko.
“What happened?” Ryuto calmly asked.
Rocko recounted the events. Though he failed to remember the vision of the girl with green eyes, so that detail went unwillingly omitted.
“I see,” Ryuto said. “Fortunately, you’re not going insane. What you experienced was the effects of the Dreamleaker’s sap.”
“Dreamleaker?”
“That’s what the tree you always call the ‘red tree’ is actually called.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?!”
“I figured a name like that would just incite your curiosity more, but it’s too late for that, now.”
“W-well... yeah.”
“The little creatures that came out of the tree are called Anisia. They're the reason we don’t go near it.”
“The creatures are why?! Not the weird effects of the tree itself?”
Ryuto shook his head. “The tree’s effects aren’t normally as strong as what you experienced. It’s because you broke the tree’s vein and were directly exposed to its sap that it affected you to the extent it did.”
“H-how does that even work? How does a tree do that?!”
“I honestly have no idea.”
“Wh-what about the one that almost ate me?!”
“That was a Treetrap. It’s actually not part of the tree, it’s an animal that latches onto it and mimics it.”
“I see...”
“Don’t you have more questions?”
“I... think I would... but honestly my head is a big mess right now. I’m having trouble thinking about things right now, so I don’t know what to ask.”
“Understood. Well, don’t worry, Rocko. Everything that happened to you is perfectly normal for the wild. You just gotta be more careful.”
“I’m not sure that makes me feel that much...” Rocko trailed off as something caught his sights, “...better.”
A green something was hopping across the branches, going in circles as it played with other green somethings. Rocko’s eyes were locked onto it.
Noticing this, Ryuto reached his tongue up to a branch and pulled himself up in order to put some distance between himself and Rocko.
The creatures were playfully chasing each other, hopping across three specific branches, each belonging to entirely different trees.
They were Tree Hoppers. As far as Rocko already knew, they were allegedly completely harmless animals that grazed the leaves from trees. Playful yet timid. If they were to realize Rocko’s presence, they’d probably flee.
Rocko had always wanted to get up close to them. They were abundant in the forest, but would always keep their distance. They were one of many reasons he’d wander off during Morning Harvests and Convergence Expeditions, and thus one of many reasons that he had always been guarded from running off. It was always difficult for him to tell how large the Hoppers were from the distances he usually saw them at or to get any discernible details on them, but the fact they appeared significantly smaller than most animals he’d seen, other than fish, intrigued him to no end. This time was no exception. He wanted to get closer. He wanted to meet them. He wanted to know what they looked like, how big they were, what they ate, how they moved, how they lived. He wanted to know everything about them.
Before he realized it, he had entered and was already on his way out from the Void. The next thing he knew, he was on another branch entirely, and several green blurs were flying — no, falling — away from him.
Oh! Those poor things. Well, you’ll no doubt find plenty more.
Rocko sighed with disappointment. “I hope so...”
Almost immediately, Rocko spotted more Tree Hoppers several trees away. Once again, he unwillingly teleported to them, much to his frustration.
And again, he saw Hoppers. And again, he teleported. And again, he was unhappy with this.
This continued several more times. The thundering and booming caused by his teleporting was like a thunderstorm roaring inside the trees of the forest itself, and scared away any other Hoppers that might have been around. All in all, he had probably teleported eleven times in merely five minutes, and not a single one was intended nor desired.
But at the end of it all, he became too exhausted to continue that day.
And thus concluded the first day of curiosity training for Rocko.
- # # # 5 # # # -
They had curiosity sessions in the forest during every Morning Harvest since then. On the tenth day, after having already teleported to Tree Hoppers and various other things a multitude of times, Rocko became disheartened at his inability to control his specialty and avoid scaring them away.
His shoulders slumped, and after looking around in hopes of sighting more, he simply gave up and sat on the branch.
After a minute, Ryuto reached his position.
“Rocko,” Ryuto called, “what’s going on?” he asked in concern.
“Dad? I thought you were keeping yourself safe.”
“I’m not going to leave you alone when you’re feeling down like this. You should know that.”
“Yeah...”
“What’s wrong?” Ryuto asked as he sat next to Rocko.
“How did you find me so easily? I was teleporting all over the place.”
“Well, it was easier with the noises you make, but I was mostly able to figure out where you were by looking at your thoughts.”
“Are you looking at my thoughts right now?”
“Look into my eyes and tell me what you think.”
Ryuto’s eyes were perfectly normal. The same dark gray and black that everyone’s eyes had.
“No,” Rocko concluded.
“Correct,” Ryuto confirmed. “I don’t like looking when you’re feeling this way.”
“Why?”
“It’s not right, in my opinion. If you want to tell me what’s going on, then you will. If you don’t want to, then I won’t rob you of your privacy.”
“Thank you.”
Ryuto smiled, “Of course.”
They silently sat there and listened to the ambience. There were chirps. There were crickets. There were ribbits. The leaves rustled occasionally with the breeze. It was peaceful.
Rocko broke the silence, “Is that how you normally go about things?”
“No. I can’t afford to be that respectful with the villagers. When things happen, it’s my responsibility to know for sure. I can’t be there to comfort or respect everyone, but to keep order.”
“Why don’t you do that with me?”
“Because you’re my son, dummy.” Ryuto laughed. “Imagine treating your own son like anyone else. That doesn’t sound right, to me. I love you more than anyone else, you know. You get special treatment.”
Rocko smiled.
“Well,” Rocko began, “it’s really frustrating not being able to stop myself. You know?”
“I know.”
“What was it like for you, when you got your specialty?”
“When I got my specialty?”
Rocko nodded.
“It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure,” as Ryuto began his story, Rocko’s attention broke. Out of his peripheral, he saw Tree Hoppers returning to the area.
“—Hoppers!” Rocko accidentally interrupted. “They’re back?”
“Oh, yeah.” Ryuto chuckled. “They’re all over the place. Those ones probably don’t realize the thundering came from around here.”
“I see,” Rocko said, gazing at them. “Oh! Uh... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt! Please continue!”
“No worries,” Ryuto said before continuing.
However, Rocko couldn’t pay attention to Ryuto at all, try as he might. He was far more interested in another opportunity to sneak up on the Hoppers. While trying to maintain focus on Ryuto, he kept sneaking peeks at the Hoppers, just to be sure they hadn’t disappeared. His intention was to wait until Ryuto finished before making his move, even though he wasn’t grasping a word of what Ryuto said. After one more peek at the Hoppers, when his eyes turned back to Ryuto, there was only Void.
He felt himself quickly moving through the Void, just as he had each time his curiosity caused him to teleport. Those teleportations were never long stays in the Void, unlike the ones where he’d hide in the Void to escape undesirable situations.
But he immediately understood what this meant, and everything he wanted in that moment flipped. He remembered what happened to his Stargazer when he teleported in his sleep. He remembered what happened to the floor at the top of the Watchtower that same day. He remembered what happened to each branch he teleported from. He remembered what happened to Ayo and the villagers when he exited the Void a little too close to them. The Hoppers were the last thing on his mind at that moment. He couldn’t care less. He wanted to undo this. He wanted to never have entered the Void — not while his father was that close to him.
But he couldn’t undo it. Right then, the last thing he wanted to do was leave the Void. Well, more accurately, the only thing he wanted was to never have left the spot he was in.
Fortunately, as though responding to his feelings, he’d been staying in the Void longer than any of the twelve other times he teleported that day.
He realized that once he returned, he might not have a father anymore. He was unaware of just how serious the harm caused by his specialty could be on people too close to where he was before he teleported, but based on what happened to his Stargazer, he expected the worst.
He couldn’t think of anything except his father’s safety. His father’s life. His father. More than anything, he wanted to never have left where he was. He wished he hadn’t got distracted, and instead paid attention to his father. Then, if only he had done that, everything might have been okay. But...
As though life was spiting him and his despair, he felt the same falling sensation he had typically felt each time he returned from the Void. The Void, though already pitch black with nothingness, seemed to grow darker as he fell to the impending, violent, abstract force he’d been getting progressively more used to crashing into at the end of these longer visits. Only this time, this was a serious problem. Wherever he ended up, his father was likely to be severely injured — or even dead.
Before he knew it, he had returned to the real world.
The first thing he saw upon exiting was Ryuto’s face, as Ryuto happily continued talking about his experiences with his specialty.
“...Huh?” Rocko said, looking at Ryuto in horrific, confused shock. Rocko had returned to the exact same spot he left in. He was sitting in the exact same position, as well, as though he never moved when he was in the Void. Rocko wasn’t sure if this was where Ryuto had left off in his story when Rocko went to the Void, but it felt like a safe assumption.
Ryuto immediately noticed something was off. Stopping himself mid sentence, he switched gears and asked, “Rocko? What’s wrong?”
“I just... what did I do?”
“What are you asking about? When?”
“Just now.”
“Uh... nothing? You've just been sitting here. I’d say you were listening to me, too, but now I’m having doubts about that.”
Rocko chuckled nervously. His chuckling gradually turned into almost hysterical — yet toned down — laughter, though only for a moment.
He grasped his head in his hands, and curled up into a whimpering, shaking ball.
“Hey, hey,” Ryuto said with a comforting voice, “what’s wrong, Rocko? What’s going on? If this is about your specialty, it’s okay. I get it.”
Rocko remained silent.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
Rocko vigorously shook his head.
“Okay,” Ryuto affirmed. “I understand. Just let it out, then. I’m here for you.”
Rocko continued to relieve his sadness for a few minutes. Ryuto put his hand on Rocko’s back to comfort him.
Once Rocko seemed to calm down, Ryuto spoke up, “If you want, we can end this for today and go home.”
Rocko nodded. “I would like that.”
“Understood. Come on, then,” Ryuto said as he stood up, giving his hand to Rocko.
- # # # 6 # # # -
On the twentieth day, after Rocko had already teleported several times in the forest...
“There’s actually something interesting I’ve noticed recently,” Rocko told Ryuto. “I’ve noticed a sort of... sensation... through my body in the moments before I teleport.”
“A sensation?”
Rocko nodded. “I think it’s been there every time I’ve teleported, too.”
“We’ve been at this for a while, now, Rocko. How haven’t you noticed this before?”
“Well, most of the time it’s hard to notice, because I only teleport when I’m already distracted by something else. But after teleporting so many times, it became difficult not to notice.”
“Ohhh, like when you finally noticed we can feel our thoughts in our heads?”
“Exactly!”
Ryuto chuckled. “So, what about it?”
“I don’t know, yet. But, this sensation could be key somehow in controlling my teleporting. So I guess we just gotta keep going as we have been, but I’m gonna try to pay more attention to it from now on.”
So, they continued their daily routine with that information in mind.
- # # # 7 # # # -
And then, on the twenty-seventh day, Rocko once again discovered some Tree Hoppers in the distance. They were playfully chasing each other as they hopped across the branches of entirely different trees, just like the first time he’d seen them since these sessions began.
Rocko felt the urge to see them up close. The familiar sensation he’d experienced whenever he teleported welled through his body. Not good. He didn’t want to teleport, but he was about to anyway. The urgency of this situation was no joke. He’d been dying to see these things up close since he first saw them from afar years ago, and he’d been given chance after chance for the last month to do so, and botched it every time. He needed to put an end to that. He shut his eyes as he gathered all of his mental strength, trying in some abstract way to fight the sensation which he could only think of as an ‘urge to teleport,’ until the urge...
...disappeared. Gone. But this wasn’t special. It always disappeared as soon as he entered the Void. Which is where he expected to find himself when he opened his eyes.
However, he was in the exact same spot as before he closed them.
It worked. He resisted his own specialty. He resisted teleportation.
He had a proud, accomplished grin. He almost wanted to dance, or to shout in celebration, but that would ruin the whole point. He needed to see those Hoppers up close, and he didn’t want to scare them off or alert them to his presence.
After taking another moment to collect and calm himself from his excitement, Rocko got on his knees and crawled along the branch in an attempt to get closer to the Hoppers without startling them. Even from several branches away, the risk of them noticing him existed.
The Hoppers continued playing with each other. Simply observing from his position, he could tell they were almost as tall as himself — possibly just a little shorter — but lighter in weight for sure. Rocko inched ever closer, but it meant nothing unless he crossed the branches.
He looked around, figuring out a path to get closer without being seen. They still hadn’t noticed him.
He positioned himself so that his feet were at the edge of the branch while keeping the creatures in view. He carefully slid himself backwards until he was hanging off the branch, doing his best to remain silent.
He slowly reached his tongue out across the branch he hung from, and wrapped it around. While continuing to extend it, he let go of the branch with his hands and dropped. In the middle of the air, he stopped extending his tongue and used it to swing himself to a higher branch. In the middle of the air, he let go of the branch, consequently launching himself through the air. In mid-flight, he redirected his tongue to the branch he wanted to be on and used it to swing himself above it, before pulling himself down onto it.
He was on a branch on the same tree as the Hoppers, but he was both higher than them and on the opposite side of the trunk from them. From there, he should easily be able to sneak around to them.
He outstretched his tongue to a higher branch, using it to quietly hop from branch to branch by pulling himself up and lightly swinging himself over to the next branch, and carefully lowering himself. He repeated this process as he quietly snuck around the tree trunk, until the Hoppers were in view below him.
He got on his knees once again, and crawled along the branch as he peered at them from above. He successfully got his closer look at them, and they were none the wiser.
The Tree Hoppers had smooth, green skin, with red spots and a red underbelly. Their bodies could be summarized in three sections: Head, Torso, Back. The Head was oblong in shape, consisting of a toothless mouth, two narrowed bulbous gleaming eyes, and two floppy vertically long ears. Behind the head was the Torso, which was the smallest part of their body, being almost skinnier than a stick. Despite this, the Torso was the main body that connected the rest of the parts. From it was a single, double jointed leg that ended in a foot consisting of four, long, thick, smooth toes, which held the creature steady on the branch it stood on. On either side of the torso were single-jointed arms that ended in hands with three webbed digits. The Back was like a ball that hung from the end of the Torso, and likely had most of their weight. It was slightly bigger than their head, and almost completely spherical. With each hop the creatures made on their single leg, it would bounce or jiggle.
Rocko could think only of one word to describe their appearance: adorable. He had a wide, stupid grin on his face, and his eyes glimmered as though they just witnessed the cutest thing in the world. He lost himself in the moment as he was entranced by watching them play together, admiring just how cute it was.
I see you really like them, Ryuto startled Rocko with his telepathy, causing Rocko to accidentally yelp in surprise.
Of course, the Hoppers heard this, and were scared off.
Oh, my bad.
“I wanted to see them eat,” Rocko said sadly, regretting that they got scared off despite his efforts.
Rocko once again felt the urge to teleport to them, and once again gave it his all to resist — with success. That was when it dawned on him: he had resisted a couple times even before that day. He had always been so busy focusing on other things in the forest that even when he managed to subconsciously resist teleporting out of curiosity or wonder, he hadn’t realized it. But looking back on those times, it became obvious. This intrigued him more than anything else so far. Why had he been able to do it before without trying? Why didn’t he realize it? How didn’t he realize it? What allowed him to do it this time, anyway? What allowed him to do it in the first place? How do other people gain control of their specialties? What had changed that allowed him to control it?
As a series of questions following this pattern continued erupting in his mind, Rocko realized something obvious. Just like one exercises, just like one studies, just like one learns, specialties were something that improve through repeated use and education: they’re trained. A combination of practice and learning had historically always been how people controlled their specialties. Just because this one was so abstract and otherworldly made it no different in that regard. It was — in the end — still just a specialty like anyone else’s, and at its core it worked the same as anyone else’s. Therefore, the reasoning was simple: he had been doing it so often, he simply became able to control it a little better. And just like when one gets stronger, they don’t notice it immediately. Of course, when one learns new things, they know immediately, but that’s just how knowledge works. Specialties were something in-between: a blend of experience and knowledge. Both were necessary to control it, but experience was more fundamental, and since it was something that grew like muscles, it wasn’t something one would necessarily notice immediately. Specialties were typically used when their users were already focused on other things, so it was natural not to notice changes right away.
In short, it was growth. That’s all it was, and that’s all it needed to be.