||Level Two||Devil's Rhapsody||Ki Reserve: 450||
After a short break, Aaron began to work his way through the various techniques.
[1/4]The book described ways a wielder could channel his ki into the weapon. This made sense to Aaron, since the weapon was meant to be an extension of himself. He began by concentrating on his ki pool.
[2/4]He reached into the azure depth of his internal chakra. He felt as the energy flowed from the ocean of ki near his center and toward his arms. As he did so, he could feel the ki move visibly into the axe.
[3/4]The axe itself began to glow with a faint blue-ish tint. For the first technique, he would be learning an advanced stage of his older skill,
axe block. He held up his axe, and readied himself with a grounded stance.
[4/4]He thought about the axe as a defensive tool. He held it forward and concentrated on the head. It flashed for a second, creating a sort of buffer-zone around its edge. Aaron smiled at his success.
[1/4]Aaron moved from there into preparation for his next skill. He ran to the edge of the square and grabbed several small rocks. He made a pile of them near his feet.
[2/4]Aaron continued to concentrate on the flow of ki. It was cycling from his pool to the ax, and back into him, as though he and the weapon were of one body. He picked up a rock as tossed it high into the air.
[3/4]As the rock fell, Aaron realized that if he did not strike hard enough, he would only succeed in knocking the rock a distance. Additionally, his blow would have to be precise. He heaved the ax to the side and readied himself to swing.
[4/4]It was as if the rock fell in slow motion. At the precise moment, Aaron threw his weight into the ax and swung. It cleaved through the rock, but also left Aaron slightly unbalanced.
I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever need to use this skill. . .[1/4]The rock was in pieces on the ground, though, so Aaron felt full of confidence. He was picking up these skills rather well, and his reading issue hadn't been a problem.
Manuals are just guides. Experience is so much better[2/4]This time, Aaron grabbed a handful of the rocks. He knew that there was no way he would hit them all if he just tossed them together, but he was very interested to see how many he could hit. All at once he threw them up into the air.
[3/4]As the began to fell, Aaron looked around, trying to see how many of them were falling on the same parallel axis. He counted seven together that he thought he could hit with the
Wide Swing technique. He readied himself as he had done with the last technique and waited to strike.
[4/4] Wait. Wait. There! Aaron swung the axe out until he was holding the end of the pole with his hand, and gave a mighty swing across the axis of falling stones. He could feel the ki in the weapon move centrifugally toward the axe-head, and against the stones. With a few
tinks, the pebbles hit the ground. 6 were halved, and one was quartered.
Aaron decided that that would be a good resting point, so he decided to head back toward the cafeteria for something to eat.
Learned: Advanced Axe BlockLearned: Advanced SlashLearned: Wide Swing[/exit to cafeteria]
