Misbegotten Memories

Chapter 293

Hector bought another false platinum elixir from Wayne before sitting down alone with Isabel.

She folded her hands in her lap before she began her lesson.  “This is known as the Shuttle Technique.  As I have said before, it is the greatest secret of my sect.  The technique trains domain and aura together.  The first stage of proficiency is simple.  It is also not very useful.  You must master it nonetheless if you wish to progress further.”

For the next hour, Isabel taught him.  She demonstrated for a while, then had him go through the method while she corrected his form.  It involved fully extending his aura, then pushing energy out of it.  He had to catch the energy in his domain, then cycle that energy back out of his soul and into the aura, where it would be absorbed.  The energy had to be sent back and forth repeatedly.

It wasn’t too hard to master.  Though no one would think that based on how stern Isabel was about ensuring he used proper form – which, he finally realized, meant the flows of energy had to be properly aligned to enter each aperture at a steep angle.  It caused a certain degree of resistance doing it that way and Hector instinctively wanted to do otherwise to fix the perceived inefficiency.  Once he caught on that the inefficiency was the whole point, they were able to move on.

“At the second stage of proficiency, we reflect the absorbed energy around the aperture instead of letting it enter the reservoir of the soul.  You want to make jagged shapes to scatter the energy.”

That proved perfectly doable after another couple of hours.  It was even more counter-intuitive than the first stage.  Hector conceptualized the task as skipping stones as many times as possible before they sank.  Except the stones were bits of cosmic energy.  At no point in any of this did either his aura or his domain seem to benefit in any way.  Energy hadn’t been lost, but neither had it been used for a meaningful purpose.  It all seemed an immense waste of time.

Based on how serious Isabel was, he knew it was not.

“At the third stage of proficiency, we change the innermost layer of each aperture to be reflective.  This will be challenging to do, but you cannot compensate by changing anything other than the innermost layer.”

They worked at that for several hours before adjourning for the night when it was clear Hector needed a break.  The experience reminded him of when he learned how to do a one-armed handstand a few years prior.  He’d worked through a lot of frustrations to master a silly skill that ultimately didn’t benefit him in any way.  Balancing on one arm was hard even for a superhuman.  Being strong did not mean one knew how to properly brace their body and avoid over-correcting.

After breakfast, Isabel resumed her tutelage.  It took most of the day until Hector managed to skip bundles of energy through his apertures and then bounce off the innermost layer of each aperture.  Getting just his domain or just his aura into the proper configuration was much easier, but both at once….

“You know enough now to gain benefits from the Shuttle Technique.  If you bounce energy back and forth between your aura and domain like this, it will strengthen you.  But to gain the true benefits, you must master the fourth stage of proficiency.”

Isabel held her two hands with palms close to each other.  Then she wobbled each hand briefly before stopping the motion.  “You must squeeze energy from your soul into the space between your apertures, then resume the third stage.  Pack as much energy into the area as possible and bounce it back and forth.  There will be no sensation to guide your efforts while it is happening.  Only when you are done will you realize that your apertures feel swollen.  In the hours after you finish, the energy will absorb and you will be strengthened.”

“How long do you think it will take for me to get to the peak of my level?”

“Several weeks.”

“Weeks!  Why didn’t you give me this technique before now?”

Isabel shrugged.  “It will benefit you so much because you never used it before.  New stimulus is always the best stimulus.  Apertures must be forced to grow in new ways at every step.  In the future, the benefit of the Shuttle Technique will be less for you.  Still good, but less.  Like every technique there is.  Your Sweaty Fire Technique gave me much improvement at a time when I struggled to strengthen my domain further.”

He studied Isabel closely.  She was a little behind him in her apertures.  When they’d first met, she’d been an entire level ahead.  “Did you bring your apertures to the peak before every advancement?”

“Of course I have, Hector.  Details about avoiding cultivation pitfalls are not withheld from members of any reputable sect.  Resources and access to techniques are the limiting factors in advancement.  Earning the Shuttle Technique should have assured my future place as a leader.  The fallout of the treasure hunt was unfortunate.  Though I do not regret it as much now.  Tian Tower and Miracle Squad are almost as good as a sect.”

“Elixirs from Wayne and cosmic chambers from me,” he joked.

“Will you still attempt to advance before returning to Aes?”

“I’m going to finish my body enhancement and then get back to work.  I can use your new technique in between patrols.  Which means I need to make a trip to the dungeon to restore enough energy for a final push.”

Isabel offered to go with him and they split up to prepare.  Hector took the opportunity to message Conrad from a computer, informing him he would be at the dungeon for the rest of the day and to look for the light if he wanted to join them.  Then it was off to do what he was best at.

The two of them did a deep delve, closing several rifts by burning away the miasma that held them open and killing countless monsters.  Hector didn’t even keep track of the kills.  He simply threw his cables out to cover one half of a defensive hemisphere, slicing apart the weak monsters and converting their essence to cosmic energy.  On the other side, Isabel made good use of her spear and occasionally her cables as well.

They emerged about eight hours later and returned to the building.

It took Hector most of that night to enhance his nervous system.  Then, having a little energy to spare still, he started on his skin.  A trip to the cafe let him purchase a level seven false elixir.  Apparently Wayne had figured out a means to separate the stem cells that came out of the bioreactor by their energy level.  The difference between a level nine false elixir and a level eight false elixir in the past had been that the average level of molecule wasn’t high enough – so this was a game changer.  Wayne could selectively remove lower level molecules until the final solution was a level nine elixir every time.  And that also meant he could sell the leftovers to people in his building.  Everyone was winning due to the wonders of technological innovation.

He swallowed down the false platinum elixir and then went to check his messages while he waited for it to do its work.  There was something from Conrad waiting in his inbox.  The text indicated that his Jinn comrade had moved away from Promise City so that he could fight in the South City dungeon.  The withdrawal of Svarga from managing that city threatened the entire world.  Only the arrival of System Users was able to prevent a breach of the South City dungeon a week prior.  The message didn’t go into many details and was professional in tone, but Hector knew the cyborg special operator well enough to know the guy approved of the Users.

Hector had to do another dungeon run before he could finish his body enhancement, taking both Esther and Isabel this time.  They spent close to twenty hours inside.  By the end, Esther was joking that they’d ruined the place.  All the rifts were closed and there were no big monsters left.  It would take days or maybe weeks for the place to recover its 'natural beauty'.  Until then visitors would not get to see the true majesty of monster-kind.

Isabel finally put an end to the endless comparisons of a death trap to a natural park.  “Esther, I will not allow you to continue spending time with Hector if your sense of humor continues to degrade.”

“What?  I’m making lame jokes on purpose because we’ve been here forever!”

Isabel shook her head.  “If only Fred were here.  He

understands humor.”Esther rolled her eyes.  “Oh, what, do you have a crush on a Jinn rover now?  So much for the idea of you getting with Hector.”

“I would not be romantically involved with either of them.  I do not prefer men.”  The casual statement caused Esther and Hector to stop walking.  Isabel turned around after a moment.  “I thought we were leaving?”

Hector hurried to move forward again.  “Sorry.  I didn’t mean to react like that.  I just hadn’t noticed any signs that you… you know.”

“We didn’t expect you to be into girls,” Esther said bluntly.

“I grew up in a sect exclusive to women.  Such things are common there.  Even when we left on missions, only half of our number had any interest in men.  Though Yan wished to bed every one she ever met for some reason.  It caused us many awkward situations.”  Her tone grew morose as she brought up the deceased Yan.  More and more, Isabel had been speaking of those she lost.

He placed a hand on her shoulder.  “We won’t treat you any different.”

Isabel studied them for a moment.  “Is there some stigma on Union Central?”

“Not really,” Esther said.  “But I guarantee every man you joked around with assumed you were flirting with them.  Men can struggle to understand that a friendly interaction doesn’t mean anything.  Apparently, I need to learn that lesson as well.  I was certain you were interested in Hector.  I guess I’m more your type, though.”

“You and Hector both have too many prominent muscles.  It is aesthetically displeasing.”

Hector laughed.  “Decades of exercise and proper nutrition were wasted.”

“Maybe that’s the case for you,” Esther said.  “I didn’t have to do anything for my physique.  My insight is into the human form.  I just look like this naturally.”

“Hold on.  Your insight is like a steroid?”

“That’s not what I said, Hector.”

“But you didn’t exercise to look like that?”

“I cultivated and consumed resources.”  Esther shrugged.  “I just don’t have to do body enhancement.  I decide to invest cosmic energy into my physical form and it happens.  The process is much more efficient than what the rest of you do.”

Hector nodded.  “I’m learning all sorts of new things today.”

“Isabel, who do you think Hector should date?”

The spear maiden shook her head.  “No one should date now.  The multiverse is ending.”

That reminder cut their fun short.