Rewards A Plenty (1/3) (Ability Self-Training)

[kyouzou]

The Academy, Training Grounds.

The training grounds at The Academy consist of a large area where students can use many tools and devices to improve their selves. There’s a swimming pool and track to improve physical stamina and speed, training dummies to practice attacks on and an infirmary to heal wounds. Students flock to this area every day after classes with the intent to become better and hopefully attain a higher level at The Academy. Though it is not only students that come here to train, The Academy’s professors train here in their free time as well.

Today one professor sits in this area; on a stump over near the forest region. To anyone watching her, she would look strange simply because she has her hand up as if she was holding something. The reason for this behavior is that she was reading a book that only she could see. Professor Ayane Ayumu has a strange ability that allows her to use multiple forms each with their own abilities. The book she holds – the book that only she could see allows for her to see what abilities she could use in those forms and if there were abilities that she had not yet learned, but could learn.

“What could this ability be?” She asked herself, looking at the spot in the book that noted that she had an ability in her Electric Elemental form that she could learn, but has not yet learned. She recalled trying various things in that form; from trying to send electricity flying forth like she could with Dismantle or sending objects flying like with Railgun, she tried everything. “Let’s give it another try.”

With that said, a bright yellow-purple light engulfed her body and morphed a bit. A moment later her long brown hair was replaced with spiky blonde hair that danced around with electrical currents. Her Professor outfit was replaced with a more casual outfit that also displayed the dancing electrical currents. She was now in her Electric Elemental Form.

‘Hm.. I assumed that it might be like the other two abilities and tried doing what I did with them to produce a new ability,’ She thought through as she remained seated on the stump. ‘Let’s try this!’ She thought as a large, confident grin appeared on her face and she brought her arms up together to root herself on. She jumped up from the stump and upon landing on her feet, she tried to feel for the electrical current that had become familiar to her. She was used to the electrical current moving through her arms, but knew that she was able to focus it on other points of her body. She had tried in the past to focus electricity to different parts of her body, but doing so only yielded the two abilities she already knew. It would be wrong for her to not do it again to try learning another new ability.

‘There’s also a passive that I have not learned,’ She thought for a moment before bringing her thoughts back to the situation at hand. “Forget that! I will learn this ability right away and then that can come next!” Just as any other spiritual being would sense for their spiritual energy or reiatsu, she now focused on her electrical current. Anyone with less focus then her would be falling over laughing at this point - the electricity created a tickling sensation throughout her body as it moved about her body.

The electricity coursed through her body from point to point. It flowed through her hair, her face, her neck and through her body. What she was hoping for was some form of interesting activity. When she first learned Railgun, that activity involved dirt floating around her fingers. As for dismantle, it was the metallic items falling to the floor during class. Now she hoped for a similar result. She smiled in anticipation as she watched for some abnormality from what she was used to.

The electricity came down towards her legs, but before she could note any difference she was quickly knocked on her back by a large force. A bright light and a few seconds later was all it took before she was addressing the situation. The ground beneath her was now glowing with a strange light and electricity danced about. The stump that was next to her showed some charged marks, unable to take the force that came down on the young professor. What had happened was nothing unusual to her. While in her Electric Elemental Form it was common for her to be hit by lightning; it had a natural affinity to the form. There did remain a difference from the normal, her legs now hurt severely. From a logical stand-point it would make sense for the lightning’s force struck her body and used her as a lightning rod before descending to the ground. However, her Electric Elemental Form was not normal and she could normally get away with getting hit by lightning without any problem.

That was not completely true, she could remember two occasions in which her body would ache after getting hit. ‘It does hurt a little if there’s nothing for the lightning to flow into..’ She thought as she recalled a time in which she was hit while standing on a rubber mat. With nowhere to go, the force remained in her body a moment longer. Eventually the heat produced by her electrical aura was enough to melt the rubber mat through and provide a path to the earth below. ‘The other case is when I am using Railgun or Dismantle and get hit.’ For Dismantle, there is a sudden increase in power that results in her arm aching and her losing control. For Railgun, the pain exists, but it makes no major difference because the shot is fired instantly.

“That must be it!” She yelled excitedly as she crouched down into a kneeling position. ‘I had focused electricity near my legs, the lightning must have forced it down into my legs.’ She explained to herself mentally. She then brought her hands to her legs and focused the electrical current back down to them.

As the electricity moved through her legs, she felt something ~ a pulse. The muscles in her legs began to twitch over and over again. “That’s definitely new!” Ayane stated as she noticed the change in her legs’ nature. She tried to move her legs where they were and noticed a stronger force on the ground than usual. She was an intelligent woman and quickly understood what resulted in the difference in feeling. ‘The body is run by electrical currents.. the electricity in my legs is providing a larger current and forcing them to provide more force to the ground. '

Fortunately for her, the pain that she was feeling had already subsided before she did what she planned to do next. She brought one leg behind her and kept the other crouched below her. Her stance now resembled that of a runner preparing for the start of a race. Eventually a pulse went through her body telling it to move and immediately it did. Needless to say, Ayane was not prepared for what was about to occur. She pushed off with her leg and began to run.. a lot faster than she had ever ran before. Within a split moment, she was already running through the woods.

“This is great!.. huh?” Within a couple seconds of her start, she had begun to feel a sharp pain in her legs. Never before had she felt such a pain and it forced her to fall over and skid about 20 feet towards a tree. Realizing the pain in her legs, she spun her body around and caught the tree with her arm in order to stop her motion.

A moment later, and while she sat with her back on that same tree, she examined her legs. Her hand came down across her leg and immediately she felt the pain a kin to pulling a muscle. It was around the area where she observed the pulsating muscle. “That speed was the result of electrical manipulation; of course my body wouldn’t be able to keep up for long.” As much as she accepted that fact, she was upset to find out that her new ability would be limited in power due to her body’s inability to keep up. “That was at most ten to twelve seconds.. Ow!” She yelled as she brought her hand over the muscle again.

There were many cases in which she would continue on with her training even through the pain, but right now she knew if she continued on she would just cause more havoc to her body. ‘I really would like to try this ability again, but if I destroy my muscles in the process I will have trouble training in the future.’ As much as it sounds like she planned to go to the infirmary with her injury, she had no plans of doing such. In the bag she had with her, she carried a first aid kit. In the past she had taken a course in advance first aid and now planned to utilize what she knew.

Watching the muscle carefully, she confirmed that the damage was not as severe as it could have been had she continued on with her run or allowed her legs to hit the tree rather than her arms. Looking closely, she figured it was just the muscle swelling from the pressure and readying to tear. As such, she pulled out an ice pack and placed it on her leg. Next she calmed herself down a bit, so that she could create the illusion of the book again.

The ability book appeared, with the page corresponding to her current form opened up to already. She looked down to where there was a space signifying a potential ability she had not learned yet. “Lightning Dash?” She read, before making the book disappear again. She laid there for a bit waiting for the pain in her leg to die down.