Understanding the Gift of the Gods Volume 1: Life Energy

[Mathew Amtrum]

So Mathew had gotten a gift that totally wasn't from Santa because he wasn't real. And that gift was a book on life energy. Which was kind of spooky since that was something that he was studying a lot about now. So someone was probably stalking him. Or Bastille was paying attention to him. He wasn't sure which would be weirder.

Still, there was no point kicking a gift horse in the mouth. Or whatever the saying was. So he found a nice quite spot on top of a parking garage to read and relax. It was time to understand the gift of the Gods. Specifically life energy.

[Zack Asiv]

Mathew would open to page one, which like before seemed to just be doodles from a kinder gardener at first, until the images literally started jumping around and combining into words and pictures recognizable to be like diagrams.

Page one was understanding the invisible flow and origin point. All Qi originated in the direct center of a persons upper body. With a diagram showing a mock single lane circulatory system going from the core to the rest of the body.

Notes on the diagram state the flow can be stopped mid attack to render a single moments use completely null. As well completely severing an entire limb from ever using life energy again. The trick would be finding the invisible flow.

In its latent form it would seem the flow would be almost non-existent, stagnant in a sense. Yet when awakened it would be an ever burning flame in the center while the flow would be the hot moving air and smoke.

[Mathew Amtrum]

"Huh. Kind of like Avenger's thing."

He said musing to himself as he read and examined the diagrams. Looking at the diagrams for any indication on where to strike to stop the Qi flow. But these diagrams did not seem to have that information. Perhaps it was further in the book or in a more advanced volume.

He took his time studying the diagrams as they moved. That in itself took some attention and time to wrap his mind around. He even went so far as to close the book for a moment and just look at it to see how old and beaten up it was. Shaking his head slowly he opened the book back up and reread the first page before continuing forward.

[Zack Asiv]

Its a fuckin old book, but not as beaten up as you might think.

The next pages show research notes it would seem, or more like analysis into observations of someone specifics maybe the authors own abilities. It talks about the different strands of categories of Qi ranging from manipulation, transference, and enhancements.

The possibility of training the energies natural flow from one of these three categories into the others to learn all three different categories. Another diagram of the flow of energy would show how learning how to control the flow would shift between the energy types, where pushing the energy outwards would cause manipulation, focusing it into a single exit point being transference, and reversing the flow all together to loop back within ones self to be enhancement.

[Mathew Amtrum]

He recognized a lot of what he was seeing here. If not in the same technical jargon that the authors used here. But he could see from the diagrams and the explanation that what he normally did was manipulation. That much was obvious, he even called it Earth manipulation. What he was working on with the stone Dragon seemed to be transference. Focusing the energy in a single exit point in his palm and placing it inside the dragon. Transferring his Earth Manipulation into the Dragon, but also transferring his will into it.

Enhancement though, that was an interesting idea. And one that he had yet to try. The concept had been with him, but the actual mechanics seemed mind boggling. And dangerous. To just build the energy up inside of him like that seemed like it could have potential to really blow up on him. Though the danger did not mean it was not worth trying.

But from what he was seeing here, mastering transference and manipulation would make enhancement easier. Probably because his skill set would be more diverse. He wondered if anyone started with enhancement and saw manipulation as dangerous and unusual.

He would continue on. Eager to see what else the book had to teach him. It was already proving to be worthwhile to have in his collection. He might need to try and find the other books. Though he would need to see how many books there were in the set. Somehow.

[Zack Asiv]

The book would go on to show growth through practice treating the flame in the center of the body like a muscle through use. Though there seemed to be many mentions of, for lack of better term "Fuel" source to give the muscle a boost.

Finally the fuel source seemed to be some kind of relevance to your life energy, makes it stronger slowly over time as well. Seemingly through the diagram making it evolve/mutate into something stronger.

Reading into it Mathew would discover that control becomes simpler and more massive, manipulation becomes a much broader term, enhancement becomes less volatile.

[Mathew Amtrum]

He nodded to himself as he continued to read what the book had to say. From what he was seeing so far a lot of the information in here was things that he already knew. But things that he had only recently learned. And these were some of the closest guarded secrets that the God's held when it came to Qi. But this was only the first volume, so even if he learned nothing substantial from this then he at least had confirmation on his own theories and lessons.

He continued reading paying special attention to the fuel source and what else it might have to say about fuel and the effects on the body. How much it could mutate his own abilities. And how many different fuel sources a person could have. Because he already knew people could have more than one Qi, different expressions of the self.

[Zack Asiv]

There didn't seem to be specifics on effects except the possibility of odd physical mutations. Which could be assumed Mathew's skin could possibly sprout scales and be as hard as steel. Hair or eyes of gemstone, something like that.

Then finally the passing of energy from one vessel to another smaller diagram, it would seem the possibility of the same life energy shared and mixed between two others could create either a happy medium or one if not both the originals.

[Mathew Amtrum]

Physical mutations? He hadn't seen anything like that with him and Shion so far. He wondered just how much fuel one had to consume to start seeing physical changes to his body. Or if it was a certain type of fuel that would do that.

The final diagram he had to look over a few times. At first he thought that it was talking about familiars. Or transference like what he was doing. It wasn't until the second time over that it clicked in his head what he was looking at. He was looking at a child. The energy of the parents mixing to make the child's energy. Thus each child draws and takes from both parents. But can also make it's own unique energy. It was fascinating!

[Mr. Kaar]

Finally at the end of the book it shows that each Generation makes the flame stronger. But it ends abruptly with even three empty pages. But the writer specifically wrote this to be volume one.

[Mathew Amtrum]

So his girls would be stronger than him? Or potentially stronger than him. That was actually kind of comforting to know. Even if it was only barely. Considering he had ensured the continuation of his line it was good to know that the Amtrums would continue to grow stronger and stronger. Closing the book and setting it aside he closed his eyes. The blank pages were probably meant for him to fill in.

But why?

It was the first book of a series. It was weird to have him finish there. And who exactly left the book for him? And why would they leave it for him? He was wary of someone pulling his puppet strings again, but useful information was still useful.

He sighed. He would need to figure that out another time. But now he had a guidebook, and he could use it to practice his transference, and even start trying enhancement. But Transference first. Master one thing at a time.

Detaching his arm he shaped it once more into a Dragon, and would focus his energy into it. Following the instructions in the diagram as he tried to arrange his energy in a connected pattern throughout the body of the dragon. Evenly dispersing it throughout the statue. He still took his time, speed could come after the process itself was mastered. But now he wanted to make it fully functional. That was more important than speed for his immediate future.

[Mr. Kaar]

As the Dragon formed now it would seem the mock energy circulation would act as muscles, bone, and tendon giving the Dragon control over the gears of the body Mathew was building.

[Mathew Amtrum]

And it was a little more difficult to do this than his first attempts to say the least. Compared to what he was trying now his first attempts were crude and childlike. And even this he could tell was not perfect. Not even close. But he could feel the energy move differently inside the creature he was crafting. He could feel the energy respond inside of it more fluidly. Like blood coursing through it's veins. But the blood was still being pushed by him.

So he would construct the heart. Taking great care with it. Building the pathways and chambers for his energy to flow through the creature. Even going so far as to give it a slight fluctuation rather than a mechanical pulse. Deliberately making it imperfect, but fully functional. He didn't want it crippled, but if he was trying to create life he needed to remember living beings were not perfect.

[Zack Asiv]

After the imperfection he would note that the construct was levitating. The flow of energy was enough now that it could loop on its own without Mathew's push.

[Mathew Amtrum]

When it started to levitate he pulled his hand away from the creature watching it curiously. That was a new one, and not very earthy. But it was very Dragon-like. It also reinforced his belief that he would be able to learn another Qi. Because while this might just be transference of his Earth Bending, this ability was showing something that he couldn't do with his Earth Bending. Something that must be buried deep inside of him.

But how to access it? And what else lay dormant inside his soul? He would need to figure both of those out before he actually took on Strike. And he would need to master those abilities as well.