Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)



Enjoy the chap.

Small spoiler:

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This is the last chapter before the small 4-5 chapter Arc in the real world telling a few perspectives we've needed about what is going in the background.

Once that is done, about 5-6 more chapters and we'll have the 2-week time skip many have been waiting for.

That's about it.

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Peace.

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"A Cycle?" Dale asked, curious

'Like uh... In martial arts s?'

"Hum..."

"It seems you are unaware of this term despite reading a book about Mana Circuits…"

Testros seemed a bit disappointed, prompting Dale to turn his back to the side in embarrassment.

He wanted to say he only read so far...

"But it's fine, perhaps it was such a basic concept that the book glossed over it, or explained it in a way that makes you unable to recognize what I just said..." Testros said after a moment of pondering

"It's not a difficult concept to understand either way."

"Well… I didn't finish the book yet…" Dale said slowly as he found an opportunity

'To be more precise, I didn't memorize everything that I read, much less actually comprehend it.'

"Oh? We should've done this from the start."

"What do you know then?"

"Huh?… That's a difficult question..."

"Well..."

Dale started his explanation, telling him what he knew about the Veins and Arteries, the pathways… Pretty much, what he still remembered.

…

/15 minutes later…/

"And that's about what I can recall right now."

'My mind simply went blank… I hate this feeling when your mind goes white when you try to remember something…'

'This feels like a school exam.'

"You know quite a lot for someone who started studying this a few hours ago…" Testros said with some praise

'His study speed is remarkable, he is a focused boy after all.'

"One of the few things I can say for certain about myself is my ability to study." Dale said with a thin smile as he remembered his many years as a student

'I even have a Skill for that… Although in the real world, it would be nice to have it now...'

'Now that I think about it, do my Skills in the real world change despite me being here? Are they still in effect?'

'That would be interesting to experiment on...'

"We'll see about this later, for now, focus on the matter at hand."

/Cough…/

Testros cleared his throat and continued:

"I want you to imagine a shape… Any shape really, as long as it's simple to remember."

"In my case, I found it the simplest to image a sword, but some find it easier to image other shapes like strings, balls, triangles, and cubes."

"Geometric shapes tend to be the easiest ones to grasp, but each person has their own preferences."

"I'll say it from the start, but there is no importance to what shape you imagine, this is just a simple exercise and not some type of trial where the complexity of the shape matters."

"Nor are you competing with anyone, let's be clear on that."

Dale nodded eagerly, from the start, he already knew it was better to not be hasty.

"Once you think of a shape you're satisfied with, I want you to try and have a portion of your Mana mold into that shape."

"Be conservative, there is no need for you to employ large quantities of it at once for this little experiment."

"Also, remember the amount you used, that will be important, but if you can't remember or find it difficult to pay attention to, don't worry about it and just let it go."

"Sure… I got it." Dale replied with a nod as he opened and closed his hand

"Think of a shape, and have a portion of my Mana follow that shape?"

'Seems simple enough...'

'I can do that much… Can't I?'

"Yes, if it helps, you can think of your Mana filling an empty space with the shape you want or anything of the like."

"Be creative, don't limit yourself to simple ideas, but most importantly, don't feel embarrassed to ask for help."

"One of the things I wished the most for was someone I could rely on when I was going through the same process as you, so don't be a stranger and ask away your doubts."

He pulled out a book and said:

"In this book, for example, it says you could imagine your Mana to be a river, and the shape you desire to be a bucket or any similar container, and have it slowly pour inside it."

"Once your Mana is shaped and stable, move it from your Vessel to your left arm, and then towards your left leg, next to your right leg, and following that, towards your right arm."

"Finally, move it towards your Heart, once you do that, I'll continue with this experiment."

"A disclaimer, it's essential that you follow your blood flow, don't try to go against it, I'm serious here, the moment I see you doing it I'll knock you out without a shred of hesitation."

"What would happen if I went against it?"

Testros let out a small sigh, expecting him to ask such a dangerous question.

"... Mana has a certain consistency to it."

"Normally, your Mana is attuned with your body, causing little to no resistance as it moves around it, the most it would cause is heat."

"This resistance is what we call Base Affinity, the less resistance your Mana has on your body, the higher your Base Affinity…"

"It can go from flowing smoothly, to being hurtful, some people have such little Base Affinity they would even get sick from getting in contact with decently high concentrations of Mana."

"However, the resistance will never be 0, and hence, even if you were to have high Base Affinity, if you were to move against the flow, it would cause the pressure within your arteries to shoot up, and possibly cause internal bleeding, or even, serious damage to some of your organs."

"This can be reduced with precise control and other factors, but for now, think that this conversation never happened."

"That is why you felt warm when you used Mana, there was a certain resistance when you tried to circulate it, albeit that isn't necessary due to you having low Affinity, but mostly due to your incapability in using it efficiently."

'Some techniques do employ the reverse flow as a method but...'

'Even for me, this concept is still new, each page of these books is enriching my mind with the knowledge I've long longed for, giving me answers to questions I had and to some I didn't even know I had.'

'So I can't say for sure if what I said is correct, the best I can do is try to have him walk in a path I know of, at least until he has what it takes to go on his own, with the power to deal with the consequences of his own actions.'

'Even then, the reverse method is too complicated for someone that knows little of what Mana is, so he isn't losing much either way.'

"Internal pressure huh… It's certainly something I don't want to feel." Dale mumbled to himself as he shook his head

"Still, you said all 4 limbs and the Heart, what about the head? Wouldn't it be part of the Cycle?"

'The stomach too right?... Though blood does travel through there to reach the limbs...'

"It is, but forget about it for now."

"No one starts training with a real sharp sword, a kid plays with a wooden sword first, so do yourself a favor and learn how to move it around your arm without mistakes instead of committing them inside your head."

"I don't think I need to go over what would happen if you were to commit a mistake there, right?"

Dale shook his head, he was merely curious, and to be honest, he expected this response.

It's just normal to think of such, albeit, he already felt a bit weird since all practices had the Heart as the starting point.

"I'll start." He said in a low tone as he closed his eyes

'A shape… A sword is a bit too complicated, there's no need for that.'

So I'll simply imagine a ball…'

Inside his chest, a portion of his mana slowly gathered, becoming a small ball.

"..."

'Okay, that was simple enough, now, move it to my arm.'

Following what he knew about the internal Circuits, he tried to move the Mana through them and found the process to be a rather smooth sailing.

From his left arm to his legs, and back to his arms once more…

However, as he moved it back to his chest, he finally felt… Sore.

Just like when you push a weight several times and towards the end, your arm simply doesn't want to move anymore…

Dale didn't expect such a simple exercise to already tire him out, it made him feel offended in a way, but he knew anyone had to start somewhere, even he with his 200+ Magic Stat.

...

Eventually, once his Mana went back to his heart he said:

"Okay, I did it."

'My body is a bit sore but I could do it again if I wished, I'll say this is a win.'

"2 minutes 32 seconds."

Dale opened his eyes suddenly.

"That long?"

'I swear, I thought it had been lower than a minute…'

"That's normal, when in deep focus, people can lose their sense of time…"

"Alas, enough of that, there's work to be done."

Testros pointed towards Dale's chest and asked:

"I told you to remember the quantity of Mana you used, do you remember that?"

"Yes, I do… Although I lack the words to convey how much that is…"

'A mouthful? A spoonful? A teacup?'

'About "this" much, but how do I say that?...'

Testros shook his head.

"That is irrelevant, what I want you to do is compare."

"Tell me, how much Mana is there remaining from your starting point?"

"Oh!"

Dale pondered momentarily before having a slight 'Eureka!' moment...

"Huh?!"

Dale now understood what Testros was trying to achieve with this exercise.

'This is… Unexpected… But uh…'

"I would say… A little over 80%?"

"Tsk, I lost quite a substantial amount, I wasn't paying attention to retaining it."

'If I were to try again with that in mind, I would surely be able to retain more of it.'

'But then, wouldn't I take longer… Hum…'

'Why did I lose a part of it in the first place? Interesting questions…'

"80% You say?... Good."

'That's considerably more than I had expected… As always, he went over my expectations.'

'His affinity is Very High, though it's not like we have that many to compare it to...'

'Regardless, this is just the start, he'll become faster and better at this, and one day, what he took 2 minutes and a half to accomplish, he'll do it within a few seconds.'

'Although it's shameful to admit, it took me 3 years to perfect my control and do that...'

'But I can't compare myself with him, for him, this is a good start.'

"I'm starting to have an idea of what you can do… But this is enough practice for now."

He grabbed another thin book and passed it to Dale.

The Book read: Origin of Mana, Volume 1, Ver. 13

"Read this book, once you're done, we'll continue."

'There is power in knowledge... And Dale needs it, more than anything, be it Physical training or Spear Forms.'

'From now on, all of his Spear Form training must contain Mana lectures, but for that, I first need him to be within a decent foothold else the lecture will go nowhere.'

/Grab.../

Dale grabbed the book with an interested gaze, although he felt disappointed that they would be stopping practice for now.

Moving Mana around his body was incredibly fun, it made him feel like a Fairy tale Hero in many ways.

Like the cartoons he saw when he was younger, it was finally his time to go Super Say... Yeah... Better not think that far.

"Aside from this, do you still have the other books? I need to look for some things." Testros requested as he looked at Dale

'Although I think all of these books should be enough, I know there are some others that could help enrich his mind.'

"The books? I'm not with them anymore..." Dale replied as he shook his head

"Fortunately, I already found a place to stash those books, they are currently with Misgurd in the Guild, you can go there anytime now."

"In fact, he told me to spread this news to everyone in the Village, if they wish to, they can go there and study whenever they have the time." Dale added as he remembered the two's request

"Oh? Perfect." Testros replied as he got up from his chair

'Another reason for me to go there... Although I'm in favor of sharing information with the Village, some books contain sensitive information that could potentially give some bad ideas...'

'Especially for the Kids... Perhaps I should be thankful that most of them don't know how to read...'

'Regardless, it would be best for me to get there before the others.'

"I'll go there and grab what we need, in the meantime, you read the book."

"If you're done with it before I come back, read it again."

'I'll have you memorize that book completely, there is nothing more important than understanding the basics properly.'

He started to walk towards the door, but he stopped midway, saying:

"Don't even think of slacking off."

"I... Understand..." Dale replied as he turned his face toward the book

"..."

Testros smiled.

/Creak…/

He opened the door, and left outside…

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Notes