Chapter 51: Energy Control
Energy Control
"Now, as I said, the purpose of the first few classes is to help flesh out your energy control, so we won’t just be talking, you will put my words into practice as you learn to control your energy better. Another important aspect of energy control is efficiency, as you will learn how to manage your energy better and not waste it like a moron." She snapped her fingers, and another orb of pure energy appeared. However, it shifted a bit before morphing into a humanoid shape.
Everyone watched in awe as the shape slowly became more corporeal, which was weird considering that it was pure energy, but it became more corporeal nonetheless. However, it wasn’t simply a humanoid. Instead, it looked like the internals of a person. Specifically, something similar to the venous system.
Granted, it just looked that way, but it wasn’t the actual venous system, but something a bit more special.
"What you are looking at is an example of what is known as Energy Pathways." She said as she gestured to the energy construct. "Every ability user has them, as they are metaphysical channels whereby your energy passes through. They exist within your body. However, you wouldn’t be able to see them if you cut yourself open, and they would still function even if they realistically shouldn’t be able to if you take extensive damage.
Similar to how energy works, it’s believed that Energy Pathways exists on a separate plane only Ability users are in touch with, and as I said, they are where your energy moves through to be used." She held up her hand and summoned another orb of energy above it.
"This is simply an example, as everyone has a unique set of Energy Pathways, but you get the gist. Now, look well and use it for inspiration because it’ll be important for what I’m about to say." As she said this, everyone focused on the energy construct of Energy Pathways.
’So that’s where my energy flows through, huh?’ Mike thought with interest as he looked at the channels and thought about his own body and what his Energy Pathways may look like. Could he increase his energy control if he knew how they worked better...?
"Done looking? Good. Now then." She snapped her fingers, canceling the construct, much to the dissatisfaction of many students, but she couldn’t be bothered to give a damn.
"A lot of the stuff I showed you just now, like manifesting my Internal Energy outside my body and using it as an attack or to create constructs is something so far out of your grasp that you shouldn’t even consider it." She said flatly, effectively stomping on whatever fantasies the various students had about making cool-looking constructs with their energy.
"Right now, what you should focus on is gaining as much control over your Internal Energy as possible. Do that, and your ability automatically becomes more refined in that department. You will figure things out from there. As for how you will do that? Well, since you have an idea of what your Energy Pathways look like, you should have an easier time visualizing them and the energy that passes through them." Her gaze swept across the students, and she didn’t even try to hide how her gaze fixed on Mike for a second.
"Your goal is simple, control your Internal Energy using your Pathways as a guide. Do this, and, your control over your energy will naturally get better. Do it until I feel like you’ve reached a satisfactory level for your current stages. You have 55 minutes until class is over, proceed." With that, she fell silent.
Mike felt the observation on him lessen slightly. Whether that was due to him no longer interesting her as much or because she wanted him to concentrate? He didn’t know. But he was going to take full advantage of it.
’Energy Pathways. It makes sense when you think about it.’ He thought as he closed his eyes.
’I used to think that the energy sort of just existed within me, like mist or something. But that doesn’t make that much sense.’ He slowly cut off the outside as he turned all his perception inward.
’Up until now, I have more or less only activated my ability on instinct. I never focused on the process behind it, just the results. But if I can focus on the process and influence it, perhaps I could change the result...’ He mused as he made use of Aura Modulation.
However, he didn’t activate his aura. Not exactly.
Instead, he sort of made it... stutter
Like it was about to manifest, but stopped at the last moment. His aura never leaving his pores.
With such intense focus inward, Mike quickly spotted something within his body. A spark.
He did it again, and once more, he ’saw’ a faint spark within him.
He did this a few more times, and the spark appeared each time within different spots of his body, making the result pretty inconclusive, but Mike wasn’t done.
Letting out a breath, he tried something else.
Instead of activating and deactivating his aura before it manifested, he activated it fully, but the output was so low pretty much didn’t even leave his pores, and the boost he got from it was so small that it pretty much wasn’t even there.
But that’s not what Mike was focused on. Instead, it was what was ’illuminated’ within him that caught his attention.
’I see it...’ Mike thought vaguely.
Within him, barely illuminated, there was a vast and complex network of Pathways that went through his body like veins, but they weren’t veins.
Each one was interconnected in some way, and they faintly hummed blue as energy passed through them to sustain the extremely low output of his aura.
’It’s... a lot.’ Mike thought, feeling surprised and a little intimidated. Compared to the model their instructor showed them, what he was looking at was several times more complex and numerous, making him both marvel that such a complex network existed within him, and feel weird for the same reason.
’Okay, I’ve noticed the network... so now what?’ He suddenly thought. He concluded that being aware of his Energy Pathways would allow him to control his energy better, but he didn’t exactly know where to go from there...
’Hm, let’s start with the obvious option then.’ He thought as he inspected the Pathways more closely. Only a part of it, mind you, as his perception wasn’t enough to take in everything at once and still look into it precisely.
He decided to focus on the network near his arm, and the way the energy moved somewhat reminded him of a highway. He observed the energy pass through each Pathway as it helped manifest his aura, and as he watched it, he noticed something.
’It’s kinda loose.’ He thought, unconsciously tilting his head as he watched it.
Within his Pathways, the energy flowed a bit loosely, sort of like aerated sand, as it moved to sustain his aura.
’Is it meant to be like that?’ He thought curiously as he followed the energy to the outer Pathways where there were openings for it to escape. Said openings were near his skin, which is where it would escape through his pores and manifest his aura.
However, he noticed that there were other openings along the pathways, not just near his skin, but throughout his body. Where his bones and muscles were, his organs, even his skull.
This piqued his interest even more.
’Are these where the energy can be sent to manifest my aura internally? In that case, why do other parts of my body get enhanced when the aura doesn’t leak from there?’ He wondered. Essentially, he was wondering how other parts of his body get enhanced since, from what he could tell, his aura was only seeping from his pores, so shouldn’t it only affect his external organs?
’Wait, hold on...’ He soon noticed something else. While it was only the openings near his skin that released energy, he noticed quite a bit of it wasn’t going through his pores like intended, but was instead spreading out through the rest of his body, unintentionally enhancing other things to a weaker level, which wasn’t bad per se, but...
’In that case, I’m not getting as much external enhancement as I should be.’ He hummed to himself. He kept looking, but for now, he only saw 3 clear issues he needed to address.
Why his energy ’looked’ so loose. Why most of the openings for the energy to exit to enhance the other aspects of his body were closed, and why the openings meant solely for his pores were ’leaking’.
Three issues that needed to be addressed, with the results being somewhat obvious, but of the three, the one he decided to address first was the last one with his pores. Simply because that had the lowest difficulty from what he could tell, and he felt like it would tie into the second issue of the other openings if he resolved it.
Now he just needed to figure out how–
Clap Clap
"Wrap it up, everyone. Class is over." Their instructor’s voice snapped Mike, and everyone else, out of their focused state.
Mike blinked.
’Huh? But I’ve barely...’ He trailed off and checked his watch. Sure enough, 53 minutes had gone by, meaning that class was almost over.
He scratched his head.
’Well damn. I didn’t even notice.’ He scratched his head, surprised by how quickly time had passed.
He looked around and saw that most of his classmates seemed relieved, while only a few seemed frustrated that the time had ended already. Theresa and Kris were among the latter.
’Another thing I need to look into.’ Mike thought and rubbed his chin while getting up, however.
"You, come and meet me." The voice of the instructor hit him, but judging by how no one else reacted, he guessed that she’d used her energy to transmit her voice directly to him.
He tried not to shudder.
Now that class was over and his concentration had broken, the discomfort he felt from her had come roaring forth again, and Mike felt goosebumps rise on his skin as she stared straight at him, no longer just observing him via whatever means she had previously.
"Mike, you coming?" Theresa, who had already gotten off her platform, asked with a raised brow when she saw him freeze.
"Go on without me, the instructor wants to see me." Mike shrugged, not bothering to lie.
This caught her attention along with Kris as they both gave him a questioning look, but he simply shrugged as he was just as clueless as them.
"Huh, well, don’t die I guess." Theresa shrugged and went on her way. Kris hesitated before also walking away after giving Mike a brief nod.
Mike sighed and turned to face their childlike instructor who was staring at him intently, ready to see what the whole deal was about.