Hey I just wanted to let everyone know that I am taking the concepts of ki and creating my own spin/version of it, so any die-hard wuxia/xianxia fans be warned, lol :D I'll try my best. Hope you guys like it!

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------1 month since beginning of endurance training-----

I’m finally going to get to learn some of the clan’s martial arts! The first two weeks of training I was getting better at balancing and timing the jump from one branch to another. I sort of cheated though. Using my feet I morphed them to be curved similar to rock climbing shoes.

http://i.ebayimg.com/00/$T2eC16dHJGoE9nuQg1-kBRY0nHOEo!~~_35.JPG

Doing this helped me grip the branches better, and all was well and good until Vandel figured it out and so he decided to up the weight amount attached to me. From total of 100 johks (lbs.) to 200 johks. At first I really wanted to curse at him but remembered that’s not the manner of a Clan Head. I think he realizes that too and uses it to his advantage. Ugh.

Anyways, to help counter that, when he wasn’t looking I used ‘Resting Talonbane’

I started destroying and rebuilding my quadriceps to help absorb the impact of the fall, and also doing the same for my hamstrings helped my legs flex and extend better on the lift-off. One thing that surprised me was that this technique can also strengthen tendons too. So along with the 2 other parts, I strengthened my Achilles tendon just to be safe.

The next thing that I thought of was my keeping my face safe if I got hit there. Even though what I’m doing will barely help its better than nothing. Like I said in the beginning, I can morph my head’s structure. I can only change my facial structure to a certain extent. And when I say change, I mean moving the bones around.

Right now, though, to strengthen my face I only need to destroy and rebuild (let’s say D&R) the facial muscles. The ‘masseter muscle’ helps you move your lower jaw up and down. It is one of the most powerful muscles of mastication (process of chewing food). It is also large too, so it is the best choice for the moment. I would rather choose the larger muscle rather than a small one, since I really want to get this over with.

And there is a damn good reason why. When I’m destroying this muscle, my jaw was hanging down, looking like a zombie. At first I thought it would be like the movie The Grudge. After all, the science textbooks never showed what would happen when you tamper with your chompers like this!

It hurt like hell too. You should have seen one of the ninja’s face, he was freaking out. I made it worse too, by trying to say ‘It’s alright don’t worry.’ But it came out as ‘ih arah ga waya.’ Which did nothing to calm him down. The poor guy was yelling hysterically and worried he’d be executed for letting the Clan Head turn into a Man-Baby. Fun times.

Well, anyways the next thing I did was make a lot of my other muscles around my cheek (Zygomaticus minor/major and Levitator labii superioris) stronger and when I rebuilt them, smaller. This was all in preparation to move my cheek bones closer and tighter to the middle of my face. Why? Because it will help decrease wind resistance on my face when running. Even though it’s a very, very, small amount of change in drag, at least it’s better than nothing. Furthermore, I changed my rounded face into a more pointed chin than oval face. Similar to changing the end of a jewel from oval to marquis.

[Auth note: here is a picture of what I’m talking about. Think of how anime characters have their faces.

http://worldtrading-usa.com/WTUSA%20GRAPHICS/JEWEL%20CUTS%20.jpg]

This also aided the bone moving effect. Now I look similar to an elf with a human appearance. More of an Elf prince with a lot of muscle, rather than a Human rugged face with a lot of muscle. Except for the fact that I have red eyes and red/black hair. Maybe I made too much of a change, because now all the female ninja’s and servants are looking at me with the same eyes Melody does.

Back to the story now, after my month of monkey-jumping up a mountain, today Vandel will help me with combat training.

“Now that you have gone up the mountain with those weights on and finished your endurance training, don’t think you can slack off on it. You will still need to run in the mornings. But for combat training you can take those off.”

Reaching down I undo the straps holding them and with a loud *Clank* they drop to the floor.

“Okay, now what?”

“Sprint to the edge of the field and back once, so you can get a feel for your speed without the weights.”

Well it is my first time, so I quickly push off and break into a run. Wow, without the baggage I’m running at a speed that could rival a stallion galloping. This speed is definitely faster than anything a human on Earth or probably even a magic enhanced warrior could do. Getting to the end of the approximately 100 yard field in 5 seconds, I think of a way to quickly stop.

Morphing my right hand and fingers into that of a five finger steel-skin velociraptor claw, I dig down into the ground and turn at the same time. Stopping after 5 inches of dragging it through the dirt, I use the same hand to help my enhanced legs take off again.

After making my way back to Vandel, I still can’t believe how fast I’ve become. However Vandel just slightly smiles like he has seen better. Well if he fought alongside my father then he most likely has.

“So how did I do?”

“Hmmm, the morphing was kind of cheating, but I guess I didn’t say you couldn’t. Now that you understand your new speed, the next is see if you can properly apply it.”

“How do I do that?”

“All you need to do is poke me, tap me, or just somehow touch me.”

Eh? Is that all? Well maybe I can extend my hand at the last mome-

“Oh and no using your morphing.”

Psychic!

“Alright I’ll try.”

Right before I finish the sentence though, I’m already moving towards him. He must have suspected that because as I get right next to him he already dodges away, leaving my hand where he once was. Aggravated by my miscalculation, I dive to grab him again but ending the same way. This goes on for another 30 minutes ending with me stopping,

“Why can’t I catch you?”

He chuckles then sighs. “This was impossible from the start, I wanted to see how long you went until you gave up. You lasted longer than you father though, he lasted 15 minutes.”

Hearing that helps a little bit, but is still irritating.

“To catch me you need to learn a skill named ‘Gliding Steps’. This skill was one of the first of the Bane Clan techniques. Do you know why most of our names refer to the sky and avian creatures, specifically about talons?”

“No, grandfather never said anything about the clan.”

“Well then it’s time to learn the small history on the beginnings of the clan. The moves are based on the legendary creature Talonbane. Bane raised the Talonbane without even knowing how great it was. Until it gained adulthood and bestowed it's part of its blood to Bane. Usually people have ki channels and if your channel is large enough you will have the red veins show up on your skin like you do. There used to be many practitioners with the red veins, and it is only rarely hereditary. That is, until the Human Race-Rift War, when most of them died at the hands of the mages. Anyways, what sets Bane apart from others was the black vein, or strand as you like to call it. The black strand is what Bane was bestowed by Talonbane upon reaching adulthood. The black strand is a whole other ki channel that runs alongside the red ki vein/strand. Bane was also the one who gave Talonbane his name obviously derived from Banes name. This is a legend, however, and no one knows how Talonbane gave the blood to Bane for that alteration. Whether it was from drinking or something else, no one has any evidence. We only know that the Bane family line is only able to harness these powers and even in the family is it rare for one to have both channels. Your father had it but your grandfather didn’t have it.

He only had the knowledge of the secrets which he handed down to your father and some to you. Furthermore most of our books with the secrets have been lost due to the war. Also when you move your channels around to D&R, it has to be done in meditation, so don’t think of moving them in the middle of battle to fix a muscle. You need to be sitting still or you could really misplace and mess up your joints and muscles.

Another way to tell you have the blood of Talonbane is your actions. When you morph have you notices you lean towards using something with claws, or some animal’s body part? Instead of using a tool made by people that could have done the job just as well?”

He’s right, I have. The lion’s paw back in Alaska, even though my other hand was a sword, but still. Then when I took down Porky I used my feet as eagle claws. Including when I just made a velociraptors claw.

Not waiting for an answer he continues:

“Now that the history lesson is over, time to teach you ‘Gliding Steps’. This technique focuses on emission. People’s ki has two focal points. Absorption and emission. Absorption is when you absorb your ki in your body and move it to another part directly from your dantian. For example, if you want to do something like smashing a boulder with your fist, you would move the absorbed/condensed ki towards the front of your fist, exploding on impact. Emission however uses the ki in an attack to go outside of the body and affecting the surroundings. Sometimes you can even materialize the ki into making a transparent figure like a fist or a dragon if you’re a master.

This relates to ‘Gliding Steps’ because it makes it as if you are gliding over the surface of something not creating any sound at all. Because what you do is emit your ki from the bottom of your feet, passing through the grass, dirt, snow etc. and directly into the ground. It’s making it to seem like you never even touched it in the first place.”

Okay well he is glossing over the science of it probably because technology and science isn’t advanced as Earth. Basically my speculation is that the ki uses the energy to pass the vibrations of the grass and your body weight colliding together straight into a deep part of the ground. Since sound is made by vibrations the ki then negates the sound audible by the naked ear. Of course this is my take on it, because ki has always been a confusing concept for modern day scientists.

Back to the situation at hand:

“Okay so I just need to feel the energy and release it out of my feet each time it touches the ground?”

“It’s not that easy, and definitely going to be harder for you.”

“Huh? Why?”

“You’ll figure out soon. I’m going to go eat and be back later to see your progress.”

Ugh, damn old man.

Sadly I see what he means in the next few minutes.

I already know how to push the ki in my body wherever the hell I want to, so I’ve got that covered. So, taking off at a slow jog and then running, I ‘emit’ the energy from my feet and visualize it going through the grass and to the ground. And it did.

I created a 4-ft long radius and 1-ft deep crater where I pushed off, causing me to trip on my face and eat dirt.

For once I think that having too much power is annoying.