Two Days Of Experimentation (5)
"Hmm Quintus and Decima together in one place and eating at the same table no less, oh how those below us will surely lament such unfair odds. Although I do suppose there is no rule against such groupings, yet I think you are the only two who would do such a thing" came a voice from an individual that was passing by, of which both Cyrus and Minerva had originally ignored.
Looking at who addressed the two of them, as anyone who was in this café had to have been at least somewhat worth the time of day, the two saw a blonde haired blue eyed man with a seemingly permanent light smile on his face. More importantly to the two, however, was the pin that was on his green robe.
"Sixtus, the sixth ranked on the banner….Bavol. To what do I owe the pleasure?" asked Cyrus, returning a similar smile back.
An eyebrow was raised on Bavol's brow for a moment before he quickly resumed his serene state,
"How odd, I had heard you were a bit…colder? I would say that being acquainted with beauty has mellowed you but it seems that the two of you have been together alongside that other fellow since the start" remarked Bavol, showing off a surprising level of intelligence.
"It has only been a few days since we have all been together and he knows such details…while it is nothing too impressive it does show that he makes it a habit to gather such information. Not to mention he is technically directly under me in rank, making me his prime target" thought Cyrus, deciding to be a little bit cautious.
"It depends on the day really" answered Cyrus, somewhat truthfully.
"Hah, I suppose you are right if I am to believe what has been whispered my way. What an intriguing first opponent I have: A kid from the wasteland who shows talent in both the Vita and Mors domain, although is currently more adept in Mors, as well as a competent swordsman that has received training from the Legionaries and is even acquainted with a rather well known Venator to boot. I can only imagine what such an individual may have taught you along the way, not to mention all the real-world experience you have from your origins in the wasteland. I already met Quattuor Caliban and he was a real piece of work I tell ya, not to mention the personal accounts of the students in the Mors domain he crushed…what cunning and skill the two of you both displayed" continued Bavol, displaying one surprising bit of intelligence after the other.
"Quite detailed the investigation you have underwent in so short a time, I can only imagine the type of environment you were brought up in to have your priorities be in such a place" said Cyrus.
"Perhaps you can find such a thing out if you try hard enough" replied Bavol with a wink.
"Either way, I just wanted to greet you today as I am sure we will be meeting soon in the arena. While our official ranks cannot be changed for a little while longer, the schedule does say we will be doing the usual end of the week practical exams like normal which just so happens to include a dueling segment" said Bavol as he walked away, waving goodbye behind his back.
"His purpose was most likely not just a simple greeting…mental pressure perhaps? It would indeed be somewhat unsettling to be told so much about yourself by a complete stranger, but anyone on the upper ranks would not be so weak. Then I can only imagine that it could be to either limit my actions or to set some kind of trap that I cannot see, or just maybe it was just as he said" thought Cyrus.
"What an odd fellow" said Cyrus aloud, before turning his attention back to Minerva.
"Not a fan I assume?" remarked Cyrus, in reference to the scowl on Minerva's face.
As a response she picked up the last of her greens and walked out of the café, leaving Cyrus helpless but to follow as he did not want to end on a bad note.
"How complex, I much prefer managing relationships on the battlefield as the dynamics involved are much simpler��" thought Cyrus as he caught up.
After a few failed attempts at getting the renewed ice queens attention Cyrus thought long and hard until he thought of something that he had almost forgotten about.
"I happened to chance upon the fact that myself and those under me have access to a private area in the bathhouses. I do need to check that out some day when I have the time as I cant even recall the amount of times I had read about the famous Imperial Bathhouses, it seemed that the culture here was almost obsessed with them from how I read it…" began Cyrus before he noticed that Minerva had stopped dead in her tracks.
"Is…this true?" asked Minerva.
"It seems I have captured your attention, how nice indeed" said Cyrus in a playful tone before answering, "Indeed it is correct, are you interested?"
"Perhaps" muttered Minerva before she looked around for a moment and then suddenly said,
"I forgot I was supposed to meet up with Imran today…see you later."
After which she took off in an all too familiar direction…eliciting a chuckle from Cyrus as he headed back towards his room to continue his last half of experimentation and training.
"Now that I am no longer in danger of dropping dead from hunger, I should make haste. There are only so many hours in the day after all…although now that I think about it why was Minerva waiting for me anyways. Should I take this as proof that she is finally warming up to me?" were such thoughts that were running through his mind as he picked up his pace and sped along much like Minerva had except it was back down the path towards his room.
Successfully avoiding any further troubles, as upon pondering why things were so quiet Cyrus had thought back to the 'humbling' that the students were said to have received, he arrived back in his room and by extension the underground dueling arena once more.
Not needing to lock it this time, as he was not as paranoid as his other half as well as the training did not require to be rendered virtually unconscious.
"Now I can get down to the final part of what I have been thinking of for so long" thought Cyrus as he activated his Vita domain.
Forming a much smaller scale version of Valkyrie in his pinkie finger, he slowly started to try to connect it to the natural life force that was contained within his body.
"Hmm, not as easy as I had hoped" remarked Cyrus as he looked upon his now exploded pinkie finger.
After seven more cycles of healing and then subsequently blowing his pinkie to smithereens he finally succeeded.
"Next is to try to mimic what I believe Cornelius to be doing. One of the more interesting inventions of modern society would have to be the spring that is used in our pens, quite a fun little toy on its own and powers a handy tool. While it may not have other main uses, the way that it coils as you apply pressure on to it only to release it in one violent move is extremely interesting…" thought Cyrus as he turned the small energy core he had successfully created into a spiral, mimicking the shape of a spring.
���While the essence does not act like a spring simply because it is in the shape of one, what is important is how I visualize it. If I can get the energy core to become completely in sync with my movements, tensing when I tense and releasing when I release, I can mimic what Cornelius does while also gaining some of the benefits of Valkyrie. A method to strengthen my physical abilities on the fly while also being connected to my life force, healing all the damage it does so long as I supply it with plentiful essence"
After many failed attempts, effectively blowing through half of his will reserves for the day, he finally succeeded in bringing his idea to life.
"How interesting…It seems that there are multiple ways to connect to my bodies natural life force but the efficiency of the paths are quite different. Perhaps I should learn more about the human body to figure out why this is so, I could raise the efficiency of my spells by a large margin if I were to do so."
Now the task that Cyrus had was to slowly raise the difficulty, moving from pinkie to hand and hand to arm. The same would have to be done for toe to foot and foot to leg.
"I could even make use of this for the rest of my body, perhaps using it to even offset damage…although I would have to be insane to try such things on myself first. I do not believe I am capable of healing an imploded heart on the fly…maybe one day but certainly not today."
"Ah, yeah this hurts a lot haha" said Cyrus aloud, laughing in both pain and excitement as he had begun the work on his arms at this point.
And so the rest of the day was spent slowly but surely advancing the difficulty of his new spell, which of course produced a rather ghastly sight. To an outsider who knew little of the world of magic it would perhaps look as if Cyrus was staring down his appendages so hard that they occasionally burst into a bloody mess only to stitch themselves back together the next moment.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone