Chapter 91

Lykan

True Invisibility

As it turns out oscillating the core was both easier and tougher than Lykan originally expected. It was easier in that once he got the little sphere moving it pretty much moved on its own. The hard part came with trying to keep the core balanced at his center. Apparently, this was a process he bypassed through his cheat method of using psychic threads of energy to hold his core into place. He still wasn’t sure how he subconsciously did so, but he still had the mental note to go back to see if there were more ways, he could cause both psychic energy strands to work with Qi.

As for keeping the spinning core balanced, that was a little tougher and took a bit of understanding about physics and balances. Essentially, he needed to provide balance to the core by having it get constantly pushed from different sides at different angles. Once he got the habit of balancing his core in place, the motions used to balance the core could also help to oscillate or keep his core spinning.

There was a slight challenge as he tried to do this all while continuing to breath in Qi and keep it swirling about his body. This of course was compounded by the fact that he was still hungry and thirsty. While the knowledge that he could escape at any time, along with his blessing that seemed to mitigate the need for food and water, the fact was he still needed food and water. The quicker he got through these lessons the better.

Finally, after many hours of practicing and failing with his core he managed to get the object spinning within his body, while his Qi swirled. Only after he managed to do this for two full breaths did he get his next set of instructions.

Breathe in Qi.

Lykan for his part was already used to this function, so he disregarded the message that he had seen hundreds of times since he started this training scenario. Instantly the counter began to rise.

Breaths completed 3 of 100.

Breaths completed 4 of 100.

Only once he had completed the requisite one hundred breaths did Lykan begin to rise from the meditation pose. Yet, he should have known something was off, as he saw a new message that caused him to pause.

Have your oscillating core and circulating Qi match the outside levels of energy.

Again, Lykan knew what the individual words were. The only problem came when the words were added together in what was clearly a confusing manner. Worse, his mind and body were caught for so long in that transition phase between rising from the meditation pose, to standing that his core faltered for a second.

With that his original message was removed and replaced with an all too familiar message.

Assume the meditation pose.

Sighing inwardly, he breathed in to calm himself. His breath was naturally filled with Qi, which he let circulate violently throughout his body, before he let out the now Qi-depleted air back into his surroundings. Once more, with his core once again maintaining its oscillating, or spinning nature. Then he dropped to the lotus position and began again.

Breaths completed 1 of 100.

Lykan had to admit that the sensors in the room were impressive. They could monitor him, his core, and his Qi flow from multiple angles around the room. By this point he thought he felt where most of the sensors used to monitor him were located. A few were linked to the plates on the floor surprisingly enough. But the knowledge of the advanced sensors and technology of this room would come later.

For now, he felt these were the final few steps needed to generate true invisibility. With that in mind he knuckled down, and focused. This time he used the hundred breaths to calm himself, which is what he figured the hundred breaths were for. This was a forced time of contemplation where the student would be forced to slow down their mind and body and ponder what they had messed up previously. In Lykan’s case it was assuming that this training would be like everything else he had been doing.

Then he tried to remember the wording that was provided as his next step. Something about the oscillating core and circulating Qi matching the outside levels of energy. Now for the sake of this training Lykan assumed that this meant he had to get the Qi and his core to vibrate at the same frequency as the room around him.

Thinking back to his first few tests, with the invisible opponent this seemed to make sense. For if he just managed to circulate his Qi, then his core would easily stick out in any optical scans. What he needed to do was to find a way to get his complete body and core to be synchronized first. The from there he could increase the speeds at which his Qi and core rotated throughout his body.

The only problem with this was the entire process was taxing to Lykan. In fact, unlike previous times, Lykan visibly saw his Qi levels dropping, even while constantly breathing in more Qi from his surroundings. This proved he was doing something wrong, for the message clearly noted that he should be able to sustain himself from Qi. The only problem was, he felt like his body was running a marathon with having to create all the countering forces to keep his core up, stable and rotating. Then to do the same for his Qi. The entire process was exhausting and clearly wrong, but for the life of him, Lykan couldn’t figure out why.

Finally, when his Qi reserves got too low, he stopped trying to spin his core. He knew that would likely cause him to get bumped down to a lower level again, but clearly, he needed the remedial training. He sat and waited for instructions to come. Truthfully, he didn’t quite know what he was expecting. Something about having to go back to meditation, which he was already at. Or something about breathing in Qi. But he got nothing.

Instead, the same message that he had been looking at for a while remained as his next set of instructions.

Have your oscillating core and circulating Qi match the outside levels of energy.

Lykan was confused, he had stopped his core from oscillating, so why was the message appearing? He focused inwardly and almost wanted to scream at how stupid he was or had been. There at his center was his core that was spinning about, being held in place by his circulating Qi.

He was dumbfounded for a moment, as it was always supposed to be spinning, but through his cheating methods he had hampered his own growth and understanding of his core and its relationship to Qi. Frustrated with himself he focused on and began doing exercises where he sped up the qi to match the outside world, but that was wrong. First nothing seemed to change, and his instructions never once wavered from their current markings.

With a sigh, he set about slowing down the rotations, thinking that the air in the room was calm and nearly stagnant, but this too was wrong. As he could never get slow enough to meet the energy of the room.

He was missing something, but for the life of him he couldn’t realize what was happening. Worse, after he got practiced with keeping his core centered, he received a notification letting him know he had somehow failed.

Oscillate your core.

He wanted to argue with the instructions that he was oscillating his core, as his core was clearly rotating about its axis. In fact, it was now rotating much more fluidly than previously as he no longer had it wobbling all over the place. With his current rate of focus and meditation he was able to keep his core at nearly a perfect balance of position and rotation. He wanted to argue, but then realized he was being foolish. The word was oscillate.

In a moment of clarity, he began to understand why his previous breaths had been counted, the core had been oscillating and wobbling all over the place. Now that he had managed to straighten it out, this was when he was told to go back to the basics. Realizing this, it was clear that to do this next test, he had to have his core wobble, or oscillate.

Shaking his head at how stupid he had been, he once again focused inward but then imagine adding stutter-steps to his Qi rotations. One rotation, half pause as everything shifts up and around, before continuing. This seemed to work as both his Qi and his core wobbled in unison. The second that happened, he once again received the message letting him know he was on the right track.

Breaths completed 1 of 100.

Good. He was onto something with this train of thought. Now all he had to do was get his Qi and his core to oscillate at the frequency that the air around him was. With his mind able to split tasks between internal and external he began to focus on the air around him. It was calm, and yet, there was a bit more to it. Each breath Lykan made added to the movement. Each inhalation of Qi forced the balance of the air in the room to shift. More Qi was found from elsewhere and constantly replaced the Qi that he had in his body.

There was a pattern that was going on around him of Qi coming into the room at nearly the same rate it was being pulled out of the room by him. Only after a few moments of watching this did he see the movements in the seemingly still room around him for what they were. There were chaotic movements of energy. Qi particles floating amongst air particles. Some passed through, some transferred energy, while others hit and bounced away. Everything was erratic, even in a confined room like this.

That was when Lykan realized that blending his energy with the room’s energy would both be easy and tough. The easy part was that it was at a straightforward and observable pace. The hard part would be in replicating the same motions within his own body.

Almost instantly Lykan realized that his current method of doing things would not work. He had his core and his Qi circulating at nearly constant intervals. In fact, the only way he felt he could keep his core up and spinning was through a regular rotation. Yet, this was clearly wrong given the task.

The task was not to oscillate and spin his core, the task was to oscillate his core. Wondering quickly how he could do this; he realized the method of moving his Qi would be easy. He would just need to stop his rotation and let it begin to bounce around and adapt to the same motions as being seen in the room. The problem came with his core. He still didn’t quite have the control over his core as he apparently needed for this, but maybe he didn’t need to.

Thinking back on his cheating, of using his psionic tethers to hold his core in place, he wondered if he could use a similar implementation to do the same thing now. The only problem was he didn’t need multiple threads of psionic energy. Instead, all he needed was one long powerful thread that was both elastic and sturdy. Elastic enough to allow the Qi particles of his body to cause the core to dance and vibrate at a reasonable rate. The tether also had to be sturdy enough to only require the one suction point to keep the core relatively still.

With his mind now made up, he began using the same process he had for removing the psionic threads he inadvertently added, in reverse. This time rather than removing several threads, he focused on creating one large thread that would bounce and vibrate easily.

After a few tries, he created one that he felt would be strong enough. Then with a quick connection he attached it to the spinning sphere, and then instantly stopped his Qi from circulating. The psionic thread spun round and round, until finally it stopped, and then began unwinding the tension within it. The process was odd the core began spinning backwards, even as the Qi in his body continued to flow clockwise, but at a much more subdued rate.

After a few moments of having the Qi and core within his body slow down. Lykan began implementing the next phase of his plan. He once again circulated the Qi but had slow measured bursts that caused the Qi to bounce and circulate at roughly the same speed as the Qi particles in the room around him seemed to move about.

It took a long time to get the right cadence and speed.

He was so lost in trying to slow down the normally chaotic energy within his body that he missed the moment he received the notification that he had proceeded to the next step of advancement.

Breaths completed 23 of 100.

Surprised by the message Lykan jumped and looked inwardly, wondering if he had been reset to the base layer. Yet, as he looked down his eyes also tried to look at the rest of his body only to find nothing was there. With a start, Lykan jerked his hands apart from their resting place in the lotus position. Only once he had done so did the illusion that his body had created break.

Now he was met with the message that had denoted his failure.

Assume the meditation pose.

Sighing at his blunder, Lykan shook his head and then went back to focusing on his moment of clarity. His moment of being one with the room. This time Lykan saw the moment his body began to resonate at the same speed and cadence as the room around him. He saw the way his excited particles began to slow down. Slowly the color of his arms and body began to fade, until finally he was translucent. Then finally he was invisible. Surprisingly enough it seemed to take roughly all one hundred breaths from the first exercise to get into this state. This was good, as it meant he was doing the task properly, though he knew he would likely need to improve on this in the future. Then just like the other times, he received the message denoting his next set of instructions.

Have your oscillating core and circulating Qi match the outside levels of energy.

The only difference between this time and the last time was that no sooner did he receive the notification, than his breaths for this task began being counted immediately.

Breaths completed 1 of 100.

Breaths completed 2 of 100.

Relaxing his mind and focusing on this exact feeling of his mind Lykan continued to move forward. Knowing that he was one step closer to completing these sets of challenges and finally being able to move on from this room. At first, he felt that he was a prisoner here, but now he was glad he had been forced to work through these sets of challenges. His only feedback would be making the instructions easier to understand, though he figured that self-discovery was part of the true process of these training methods. He also realized that one hundred breaths were likely the bare minimum needed to make something feel like it was part of muscle memory. Already he could feel his own body and mind locking in these exact motions and feelings. While he knew he was still cheating by using his psionic thread to hold his core in place, he felt that since the process was being counted that this had to have been allowed. That or for some reason the users of Qi could not detect his use of psionic threads. This was an interesting concept and one that Lykan felt he would try to explore further, once this initial set of training scenarios were over.

Breaths completed 48 of 100.

For now, Lykan was content with the fact that he had managed to make his body invisible. Something he felt would have been impossible at the start of these sessions. He also wondered what other training sessions were available after this one. Part of him wanted to complete all the training scenarios, but another part of him wondered how long such an ordeal would take. He did think he had people out there.

He thought about all the people he had left behind. He even thought about Octavia. He had been angry with her but looking back there were only a few things she could have done that would have both healed him and the dragon. He also now knew that there was no way to assume the meridians to his reserve were damaged. No thinking on it, he felt he needed to talk to her at least once more. Though he also made a note to not let other people or opportunities to meet people pass him by.

No sooner was he lost in thoughts of how he had treated people, particularly his classmates poorly than he received the next step of his training. To his surprise, it was a message that almost made him laugh.

Next Trial Beginning. Walking and Breathing while Invisible.

Fortunately, this was something that Lykan felt he could do. This of course was the next step. Now that his Qi and his core were able to move at the same rate as the world around him, he needed to find a way to move his own body through the world at the same rate as the air. He noticed a problem with his fourth step, where he moved too quickly for his Qi to compensate for. With that he was met with an all too familiar message.

Assume the meditation pose.

Realizing his mistake, he dropped to the ground and began calming his mind as he prepared for how to do better.