Caelum aimed at his target, conjuring wood into existence and carefully positioning them. He managed to throw two pieces successfully, but attempting more would risk their accuracy. Frustration gnawed at him, leading to hasty mistakes. He crouched, waiting for a moment as the strain from his last throw healed, muttering curses under his breath.
A few minutes later, he stood, determined. Clenching his fist, he made a silent vow, "I'm going to get better at this, eventually." Raising his right hand, he focused on the target. Though he could aim precisely, his concentration wavered with more than two pieces at once. He closed his eyes, methodically flexing the muscles of his fingers, focusing on their alignment. Despite his efforts, a piece slipped early, disrupting his control. With a frustrated yell, he realized he had twisted his fingers in anger, inadvertently affecting his aim.
Deciding to take a break, Caelum sat down, closed his eyes, and breathed deeply. After a minute of calming himself, he methodically worked through his hand, focusing on each finger individually. Once he felt more at ease, he stood up, determined to make his next attempt flawless. Concentrating on his aim, he hurled three pieces of wood at the target, grinning as they hit their mark.
Relaxing against a nearby rock, he smiled, pleased with his progress. As his wood reformed into their proper positions, he let out a satisfied sigh. Ready for his final challenge, he focused on releasing all ten fingers while maintaining his aim. Starting with his non-dominant left hand, he repeated the process of twisting, observing, and releasing. Once he could fire accurately with his left hand, he moved on to his right. Struggling to twist both hands simultaneously, he closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation of each finger being correctly positioned.
Opening his eyes, he raised both hands, aiming at the target. However, his concentration slipped, resulting in a sharp pain and a series of muscle contractions. Two fingers ended up hurting like hell, and several of his wooden chips missed their mark. He'd also held the sharp bits too tightly and now his hands had to be healed. Taking calming breaths, he flexed his muscles once more, ignoring the growing ache.
With closed eyes, Caelum leaned against his rock. His attention was on his hand, or more accurately, the bones inside. It had occurred to him during his training to become good at throwing weapons that perhaps he could control the bones themselves, or at least their components? He put his palm to his stomach and directed his bone control to the saol coursing through his entire body. He tried to bring it to his right hand after finding a good portion of it.
The liquids, try as he might to affect them with saol, just held their place until his heart spread them back throughout his body. Caelum frowned and returned his attention to his bodily fluids. He applied the same concept, thinking of how he controlled wood, and was happy when they exhibited a slight reaction. He managed to keep them there, but they were pumped away after a short while when his control weakened. With a frustrated sigh, he cursed under his breath
He took a deep breath and tries to relax. He starts over as soon as he found it, searching throughout his body. He attempted to move it to his right hand slowly and carefully. The bones closest to the spot remained in place and did not move, while the fluids within it appeared to be unaffected. He let out a growl of frustration, but other than that, he kept still.
He inhaled and held his breath. After a brief examination, he focused once more on the saol in his body. He pulled the energy gently and moved it at a much slower pace when he focuses it on a single area. The saol closest to his right hand did move in the direction it is supposed to, even though this was happening much more slowly than it should. Other parts of his body that contain saol stop moving, but they did not move visibly in the direction of his hand.
Caelum grunted, realizing that he couldn't exactly use saol to manipulate his blood or anything crazy like that. He supposed that made sense – there were blood mages out there but they were incredibly rare. He figured one must have some kind of twisted power to be able to directly affect their blood like that.
Caelum flexed his knuckles, feeling immensely satisfied with his progress for the day. It was time to begin using the technique he had developed while practicing the previous technique. He could control the energy in his body, so why not create more flesh to cover his chest and abdomen, which were his weak points?
With concentration, he pulled some of the saol up to his ribs. He layered it between two of his ribs, concentrating his energies to fortify the bone into a thin layer. The outcome was not what he had in mind; instead of forming a thin, protective layer, the saol clumped together as his attention went from control to hardening, creating a tiny bone lump that pressed painfully against his chest. He scowled in discomfort and annoyance as he forced the bone from his chest and allowed it to drop to his side.
He gave it another go as soon as the tiny puncture in his chest healed. He thinly distributed the remaining small amount between his left lower and lowermost ribs, pulling it to his chest. He left the liquid there, but every time he tried to solidify it, it started to either fall out or congregate. Caelum released it while he tried to come up with a new strategy because he knew that hardening it at the wrong time could be fatal.
Making a snap decision, though not a bad one, Caelum pulled saol to the same ribs as the previous time, albeit slightly less. He focused and started to harden it slowly. Rather than working in one go, he formed a film by working from left to right. Even though he couldn't stop anything at the moment, he was happy that he could still make it work. This strengthened his resolve to learn the technique and validated his theory about it.
Caelum prepared to try again by pushing the small amount that had formed, a little bigger than his thumb's fingernail, out of his body. He started over and pulled a little bit closer to his chest this time. In addition to trying to work faster, he was working with a larger piece.
Caelum pulled enough to cover the gap between the two ribs, deciding to try and make a jump. He spread it out evenly, using his control to ensure that it wouldn't restrict his breathing too much when it hardened. He hardened the bone, gradually moving outward from the center. The process took some time to complete, requiring great caution to ensure it didn't clump. This was something else he'd need to work on to make it practical for combat.
When it had healed, Caelum yawned and pushed his most recent attempt from his chest. He went back to sitting cross-legged, put his hands on his knees, closed his eyes, and focused. He continued to pull until the film was formed. This time, he wanted to be able to harden it completely in a matter of seconds. After repositioning the saol, he started to convert it to wood. It took all of thirty seconds, much to his chagrin, but the outcome was what he had intended.
Caelum's otherwise motionless face cracked into an expression of relief as he let out the last of his frustrations. Recognizing his potential, he attempted it again. In response to his commands, the saol moved swiftly to take its proper position. However, the actual process of using it required a lot more time. He smoothed as he went, working from his right side to his left. By doing this, he was able to harden a film between two of his ribs in about ten seconds as opposed to correcting the far left while still hardening the far right. With a triumphant smile, Caelum moved to a more comfortable position while keeping his eyes closed.
Now that he had pulled up the saol, he formed the film over four ribs. After distributing it evenly, he started to solidify it from the top down, once more smoothing as he went. This was considerably trickier, a place he dared not screw up. To put it mildly, it could be extremely uncomfortable if any of the power seeped down to his lungs when he reinforced his body. He focused intently for a minute and eventually finished the film. He raised his right hand and tapped it against the film to check the outcome. He was pleased to see that it remained firm.
It took a little longer for the larger film to be expelled, and Caelum winced when a significant section of his chest skin abruptly. It separated from itself. He brought the energy back up to his chest after the healing process was complete. He divided it between two on each side as opposed to four on one. Caelum got to work, hoping to harden both at once. Using his previous experience, he worked his way down, trying to harden both at once. He accomplished this quickly and with great ease, much to his satisfaction.
Sighing in relief, Caelum stretched back and popped his back. Resuming his training, he settled back down. He created the minuscule layer that lies between each rib on both sides of his chest by drawing the energy back towards the center. He was particularly careful to ensure that no saol floated in the vicinity of his heart as it hardened from the top down. When the armor or wood was finished, he crafted a wooden dagger and jabbed the tip very slightly into his flesh. It barely makes it through before stopping short, and he set the dagger aside after wiping it on the ground.
For any onlookers, pushing the formed film of chest armor out would be extremely unsettling. The layer of bone fell onto his lap, and his chest appeared to burst. Fortunately, the cut healed quickly, and Caelum put the chunk of bone and wood that resembled a ribcage aside. He pulled the calcium to his midsection and then pushed it in the direction of his left arm. He started to form a hard cylinder that encircled his arm from the elbow to the wrist, taking care not to damage any nearby muscles or nerves. After finishing this, he took out his sword once more and examined the armor. After completing the task to his satisfaction, he left it there and focused on his other limbs.
Caelum started to encircle the muscles and nerves with bony cylinders, first protecting his right arm and then his left leg. After completing this task, he started to harden the area between his ribs once more, attempting to measure the extent of his limited movement. He worked quickly now, pulling up, spreading, and hardening the liquid, and was soon done.
Caelum turned his gaze to his stomach, not sure what to do. There were no bones to attach to or base off of, so it would be foolish to just form a mass there. He chewed his lip and started thinking of what to do next. He chastised himself for not having thought of this solution sooner when it finally occurred to him. In the event that there were no bones present, why didn't he just... create a few? He created a cage system by pushing his hip bones and ribcage upward, serving as a foundation for his thin layer of protection. Once this had solidified, Caelum tested the effectiveness of the armor with his dagger. With a broad smile on his face despite the slight bleeding on all of his limbs, he stored his blade.
Caelum stood slowly, scowling at the additional weight the armor added to his body. As he raised his hand to draw his sword, he became aware of how unnatural and slow the motion seemed, which could be disastrous in combat. With an uneven gait, Caelum approached the target dummy and started practicing his basic strikes. Thirty minutes later, he sat down, panting heavily. He ran through what he'd found, pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes.
His strength was fine, though his body moved more slowly. It was hardly surprising that his druidism techniques held up well at all. But his physical capabilities were a whole other story. It had suffered greatly, unable to resurrect the former grace to his movements. During his testing, he had almost lost his balance or, worse, overcompensated for the extra weight on multiple occasions. A low groan came out of his throat as he realized practice was the only thing that could possibly negate or lessen this drawback.
Caelum stood with his sword raised, steeling himself. His left hand cracked repeatedly as he extended a wooden sword that was about the same length and width as his metal one. He slid into a stance, cracking his neck and twisting his head. Then, as his weapon flashed down in an overhead strike, his right foot slides forward. He pivoted off his right foot and made a half-circle swing with his wooden sword, slicing what would be a cross-sectional cut. Caelum paused, scowling in disappointment as he shook his head. He growled, "Not fast enough," and then carried out that move once more, along with several more, until he was happy with the outcome.
2290 wc
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