Pieces of Sonder

Freya looked on expectantly. Daveth made a show of pretending to consider her request. He “hmmed” while looking her over again.

Come on, don’t be lazy and teach me, Freya thought. The demoniclast had mentioned being happy he was her teacher, perhaps because he didn’t have to teach anything.

The purpose of this meetup was supposed to be to awaken one’s qi. However, Freya was far beyond that lesson. As a shaman, she knew a lot about qi, from sensing the flow of qi through a person’s meridian lines, embuing qi to power talismans, and channeling qi through a staff to exorcise demons. Thanks to the game, she could even deliver destructive qi through her fists and feet. Recently her Implosion skill allowed her to disrupt her opponent’s meridian lines directly. 

Soon after she developed the Implosion skill, she wondered how she would defend against it if faced with a demon or human who knew it. The best course of action would be to avoid their touch. But if that was unavoidable, could she block her qi against manipulation? 

The technique Daveth just showed seemed like it could be an answer. Perhaps it was what Sangen used to minimize her qi-based skill damage. Even if it wasn’t, Freya was still interested in learning it.

“Alright, I’ll teach you. But I can’t guarantee anything.”

“That’s fine, I understand.”

Daveth scratched his chin, “Before we start, may I ask: did you become a shaman apprentice to train for the demoniclast trials, or did a shaman pick you?”

“Um… I asked to become an apprentice,” Freya decided. A shaman in her real life had picked her, but “Frey” seemed to have ambition since the beginning. It matched more with Nightscythe’s story that Frey had been training for a long time.

“Is that so? Your qi is quite powerful, so I wondered. Shamans are always looking for people with natural talent. We get a lot of their apprentices every year. Unfortunately, they usually don’t make it that far.”

Freya cocked her head to the side, “Really?”

“They focus too much on knowing about qi and don’t get past the endurance tests,” Daveth laughed maliciously. 

She frowned at his over-the-top laughing. Shaman’s had the impression of being bookish, physically feeble individuals, but that wasn’t always true. Just as she was about to protest, he straightened his posture and added, “Although shaman apprentices that do pass are rather good.”

He pulled her closer and pointed, “See that guy over there?”

Trying not to focus on his touch, she followed his line of sight. A burly-looking demoniclast was holding the hand of a much smaller trainee.

[Indrek Penhale]

[Lvl 21 Demoniclast]

She remembered he was the one who gave the speech after the first trial. Along with Kamdale, he had the highest level among the demoniclasts. And judging by his grey textbox, he wasn’t even a game player.

“He was a shaman apprentice. He barely passed the endurance trial, but once he got to the fighting trials, he excelled. Indrek’s one of our unofficial leaders now.”

Hm, out of all the demoniclasts here I wouldn’t have picked him as a former shaman apprentice, Freya thought, falling into the preconception she just criticized. His bulky muscles were easy to make out despite being fully clothed. Indrek towered over the boy he was teaching. The boy’s arms looked like twigs compared to Indrek’s.

“Perhaps you can match him,” Daveth said, smiling.

He spun Freya back around to face him. She noticed his smile falter ever so slightly as he looked over her head.

“Alright, let’s get started!” he clapped his hands together. “As a shaman apprentice, I suppose up to this point you’ve only been focused on driving qi out from your body.”

Freya considered his question and the slip of his smile. Perhaps she had imagined it. She answered his question, “Well, I can also soothe my qi and use it to fix my meridian lines.”

“Hm, so you did get some proper training. Usually, people are just focused on the offensive capability of qi, but it can be good for healing and defense too.”

Daveth held out his hand, “Can you sense my qi?”

Freya took his hand. She didn’t need to expend much effort to feel the vigorous stream of Daveth’s qi. She nodded her head.

“Good, can you sense this?”

In a flash, the river halted. Every particle froze in place. Freya sensed the change was only in Daveth’s hand. The qi in the rest of his body immediately protested, wanting to ram forward. Then, the flood gates were released. His qi moved as normal.

“You can freeze your qi?” Freya asked, “Isn’t that harmful?”

She knew meridian lines could get knotted, holding qi into place. However, that usually led to extreme physical damage.

“It can be dangerous, but it can stop qi-based damage if activated in the right place at the right time. I wouldn’t suggest doing this for more than a minute.”

Freya took a moment to adjust to the feeling of her qi. All she needed to do was stop her qi, but it felt wrong. Most of the time she spent trying to improve the flow, not stopping it. As she focused on freezing it, she clenched her hand into a fist.

Daveth laughed at her attempt, “For me, it helps to think of stopping the individual qi particles. Try a really small spot. Like the tip of your finger. I can demonstrate on you so you can get the feeling.”

Biting her lip, Freya held out her finger. She really didn’t like the idea of Daveth touching and manipulating her qi, but it would be easier to mimic the sensation.

After taking her finger, he took a moment to sense and adjust to her flow of qi. Freya’s spine tingled at the sensation. Finally, he froze the qi at the tip of her right pointer finger. The tiny spot felt detached from her body, like a limb that fell asleep after sitting wrong. 

Daveth stopped and re-started the freeze a few times for Freya to become accustomed to the sensation.

“Okay, thanks, I think I got it,” Freya said and withdrew her finger. 

She sat down cross-legged on the ground and focused. For her, the feeling was almost one of detachment. Like she needed to separate that qi from her body, freeze it, then accept it back into the flow.

Around her, other participants grunted in frustration or breathed loudly, also trying to control their qi. Freya felt like she was trying to do the opposite. Instead of attempted to sense her qi for the first time, she was trying to forget about it.

Stop, freeze. Like a chunk of ice. The qi in the ice is not mine.

Brows furrowed, she commanded the qi in her fingertip to harden.

[New Skill Realized!]

[Qi Armor]

[ →  Lvl 1 ]