CHAPTER 172: VERSATILITY

"Your power has grown quite significantly since we last met." Sylara stated. "If you wish I could show you how to use it for more general things, such as sensory enhancement, conversion to magic and vice versa or bestowing curses and blessings."

"That would be helpful, especially the magic part – I had no problem turning divine power into magic but couldn’t do it the other way around."

Sylara nodded in understanding.

"I know a good place to train things like that – come with me."

***

Sylara took him to a chamber around the size of the training rooms, but this one was almost completely empty.

Instead of heaps of training equipment and wooden weapons there was single stone structure – an altar, identical to the ones found in the temples of the old gods.

"Light it and we can begin." The Guardian instructed.

Calen shot a small ball of flame at the holy oil and the space filled up with soft golden light.

"At this point you’re not yet powerful enough to establish a space belonging to your domain on your own, but you can use things like the altars to do that part for you."

"You mean like something you have over the city?"

"Exactly – currently you already have several fairly big spaces like that, and you are capable of mentally accessing them to see, hear and sense everything that happens inside of them."

"Two of those places are empty though, and it’s not like I’m going to spy on people in Greenheart."

"That’s true, but this is an important skill to have once your sphere of influence stretches enough to cover places that aren’t necessarily friendly. Also it’s a basis for other, more complex skills related to the representation of your domain – such as teleportation."

"You mean like what you did in the Fool’s tomb? I can just teleport to any divine flame?"

"You will be able to in the future, but not yet. This ability is exclusive to spirits who become at least elementals, and to transport others as well you need to become a Source Lord."

"Oh, that seems... quite far off."

"Not necessarily, power-wise you’re already almost halfway to becoming a full-fleged spirit. If you keep up this pace you could become an elemental in just a few months." Sylara said. "But enough chit-chat, we should get started."

She handed him a blindfold and a pair of earplugs, both made of strange, plant-like material.

"Put these on and sit down, since you already know how to sense divine energy use that sense to interpret what’s happening around you. I will be performing simple actions such as speaking and walking so that you have something to focus on."

"Isn’t this kinda similar to what you thought Ellie?"

"Somewhat, as both methods use divine energy, but what you’re doing is going to easier and more powerful, as you get information from the entire space affected by your domain, not just a single point like in the case of communicating with plants."

When he put on the blindfold and the earplugs something unexpected happened – both items grew and stretched to fit his features perfectly.

He was left in perfect darkness and silence, only his sense of touch remaining, not that it gave him much in this empty space.

Calen didn’t waste time extending his divine sense around and... it was different.

Instead of sensing the power in a specific place it was all around him, but also not, like the energy in this space was simply an extension of him. As a result he wasn’t exactly perceiving the divine power, but rather the disturbances in it.

At first he couldn’t make sense of them – constant waves of activity spreading in every direction, shapes that didn’t really resemble anything.

He looked and looked, but he couldn’t find any recognisable patterns or figures – he did notice that there were two distinct types of disturbances, but it wasn’t much.

It wasn’t until he tried to look at the waves from multiple angles at once – something possible only thanks to the extended divine sense – that he saw the full picture.

Only movementbwt first.

Then a leg making a step.

Then both legs.

Slowly but surely he was understanding how Sylara actions influenced the first type of disturbances – and finally he put together a complete picture.

She was moving from side to side, waving her arms and travelling in circles.

And then there was the second disturbance; it didn’t have a specific shape, but there was a rhythm to it, almost a melody...

Rhythm. Melody.

Sylara wasn’t walking and talking – she was dancing and singing.

Once that realisation hit him it was like something suddenly clicked, as if his brain just started understanding what it was perceiving.

In his mind’s eye he could see Sylara as clearly as with his own pair, better even as the image included every possible angle.

He still couldn’t understand the song though – but not because he couldn’t hear it, the words were simply in a language he didn’t know, which was quite surprising considering he studied the three which were most used before the popularisation of common tounge.

He observed her like that for a bit – before a sudden dizziness overcame him, accompanied by a dull headache.

Calen instantly retracted his sense and the pain slowly went away. He took a few deep breaths and took out the earplugs, then took off the blindfold.

Sylara was standing in the same place he saw her last time, as if she hasn’t moved at all.

"What was that song?" He asked without thinking.

"I take it you succeeded then." She chuckled. "It was a ritual meant to bestow blessings, my master thought it to me – if you’re wondering about the language it’s the one used by spirits back in the age of wonders."

"So you blessed me while I was doing this?"

"Spirits were very superstitious, even for beings made of elemental energy – the ritual doesn’t have any actual power, it’s just a ’good luck’ blessing."

"I got a headache after a bit." He admitted

"Your brain isn’t accustomed to actively processing this amount of information, it will get better as you practice." She took the blindfold and earplugs from him. "Now let’s try that magic to divine power conversion you had issues with."