THEOS

Luke sat in front of the podium and pretended to pay attention to the Heros movements. To any outside observers it would seem that he was wholly captivated by her Technique. When in fact, he was poring over his Status Screen.
| Skills | Quests | Inventory
Name: Lukas King
Tier: Mortal
Mana: 720
Rate: 15% per hour
Strength: 41 > 43
Agility: 44 > 46
Constitution: 43 > 45
Arcana: 32
Stat Points: 5
Bloodline: Locked. Conditions not met. (1/10 000)
Charges: 7/10
He felt a headache forming as he tried to figure out how everything worked.
His mind flashed back to the last trial, and how close he had come to death.
He looked away from the podium, and found Spiros and Arya in the crowd. Spiros was standing in a corner, every muscle on his body bulging with strain, and sweat forming a puddle at his feet as he tried to move his spear. A rather strange sight, that was becoming increasingly common in the chamber as more and more people attempted to imitate the Heros movements.
Arya was still standing at the same place as before.
Luke thought, watching her move her limbs less than an inch every minute as she slowly shifted from one stance to the other. She had been doing so for the past few hours.
Initially there had been a buzz of activity around her, but the crowd had naturally dissipated when it became obvious that it would take her quite a while to finish up, and answer any questions.
None of the people present, it seemed, were impatient enough to interrupt her either. Luke had spotted a few people who looked like they wanted to grab her and demand answers but none had acted so far.
Turning back towards the podium, he focused on the Hero. Observing her every motion with the entirety of his focus. Letting every other thought slip from his mind. Not thinking about the position of her blade. Nor about how he would get past her guard. For the moment at least, just watching.
he watched her seemingly overextend her arm, giving her would-be opponent an opportunity to disarm her,
Suddenly it was like a gong had gone off in his head. Scrambling to his feet, he quickly waded through the other mats, until he found a quiet spot.
Drawing his sword, he held it vertically in front of him. Undaunted when it didnt move even an inch. He stopped trying to move it at all.
Closing his eyes, he imagined himself standing beside the hero. At first just imagining himself following along with her.
He applied a small amount of pressure.
His blade began to move. So little and so slowly that Luke would have thought he was imagining it, if it werent for the currents of energy he suddenly felt coming alive in his body. Feeling both new and foreign, and at the same time, as if theyd always been there.
Status |
| Quests | Inventory
Tier: Mortal
Progress: 0.01%
His Arcana Stat suddenly ticked up by one, and his total available mana for the briefest of seconds went down a whole point, before reading as full again.
His sword continued its motion. Inching its way through his swing. Another point of mana disappeared from his pool, only to come back a second later. Again.
Status |
| Quests | Inventory
Tier: Mortal
Progress: 0.02%
Luke increased the pressure on his blade. Urging it to move faster. The same sense of resistance overcame him, but instead of stopping his movements completely like before, it merely prevented him from moving any faster.
He strained his muscles as much as he could, even still, his blade failed to move any faster.
Relaxing his muscles, he stopped trying to force progress. Letting the mysterious resistance dictate his pace, as he acted out the motions.
Just taking the time to feel the mana move within his body. Mapping its flow within him.
He opened his Status, and added a single Stat Point to his Arcana Stat.
| Skills | Quests | Inventory
Name: Lukas King
Tier: Mortal
Mana: 764 / 765
Rate: 15% per hour
Strength: 43
Agility: 46
Constitution: 45
Arcana: 34
Stat Points: 4
Bloodline: Locked. Conditions not met. (1/10 000)
Charges: 7/10
He shuddered in pleasure, as warmth flowed into every inch of his body. The flow of his mana became a little bit clearer, and he felt a slight pulsing sensation throughout his body as mana practically oozed out of every cell of his being and bolstered the existing flow of energy inside of him by a tiny amount.
He suddenly opened his eyes, and sheathed his sword. For the moment, losing interest in learning the First Stance of the Sword, and wanting to play around with his newly discovered mana.
Looking around him, he was happy to see that a crowd hadnt formed around him like it did with Arya.
Rolling his shoulder, he started making his way to his room. Doing his best to act as inconspicuous as he possibly could, but at the same time, finding it incredibly difficult to keep a smile off his face.
He felt great. He wasnt sure if it was a side effect of suddenly unlocking his mana, or because he had finally made some progress on the technique. Giving him hope of finally leaving. Or some combination of both. But he felt giddy, and light. Too giddy, and too light.
He wanted to skip, and dance, and sing.
He tried to talk himself into not acting strange.
He took a deep breath. Keeping his head down, and his footsteps steady.
Hey. A girl whispered as she walked up beside him. Bumping her elbow into his gently. I saw your sword move. What did you figure out? Is there some kind of trick?
Luke stopped in his tracks, and looked at her. Raking his eyes callously across her figure. Starting at her toes, and working his way up her body.
Im Trixie. She frowned at him.
HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. Luke burst out laughing. Dropping to his knees as he laughed uncontrollably.