But now I just limp in despair.
My legs cry and ache,
Each step feels like fate—
Next time, I'll just take a damn chair!
- Goldie Honorhide
Even Goldie was starting to flag, and her temper got even shorter, if possible. Makara was definitely suffering the worst, and I was next until I learned Endurance Running. Felix seemed fine.
Hour after hour, day after day, in the sun, the sleet, the dark, one foot in front of the other, one breath after the next, up the next hill. My job was to control the sled on the downhill slopes, as it did not have brakes like a normal sled.
I could tell even Yoboc was flagging after the first week.
We kept going, though. Twice, Yoboc thought he saw something in the sky and had us take cover.
The week was tough, and there is at least one more to go. Yoboc might want us to go longer.
I found out why Felix mostly didn’t activate the Skill. This is because Endurance Running is mostly passive. It boosts Physical Agility in both movement and breathing. The skill kicks in when it is needed when running. It also gives a small boost to Mental Strength, and I earned a point in Mental Strength when I earned the skill. Endurance is about keeping going no matter what, and this is also a function of Mental Strength.
Endurance Running is a small specialisation of the main skill of Endurance. I have no Idea how you would earn general Endurance. The elite military people may know how to train in this, but this is enough for me. I only learned it so quickly from my connection to Felix, boosted by his Team Leader Skill.
This is not all I have been doing while running. I have been practicing my Mental Shields with the void aspect of my affinity. I was hitting a wall mentally. Yes, it was hard to concentrate while my muscles were aching. At least Breath Control helped my breathing.
I might be slow, but I do get there in the end. In the end, I discarded using the Void. What is my core affinity skill? It is my Cosmic Aura. What is it that blocks Makara’s Electroreceptors? It is my Cosmic Aura. What is it that lets me shape and manipulate my Spiritual Skills? It is my Cosmic Aura.
My Mind is already physically enveloped in my Cosmic Aura, so why wouldn’t this also be the key to protecting my mind? This turned out to be fairly simple as my aura was already there, and I mostly just needed to realise it. Once I realised the Cosmic Aura was also mental, I knew I could use my other skills in my Cosmic Aura. Frigid Void and Tremor both worked, but I don’t know how effective they are, as no one here can do Mental attacks. My Cosmic Aura is flexible, so maybe I could learn to use these things as attacks as well as defence, but I can’t test it right now. I grinned; maybe I can give people actual brain freeze.
Yoboc said the mental specialists are the elves. There are not many elves in this part of the world. Humans are very versatile, and some specialise in mental skills. Yoboc and Goldie both advise responding to Mental attacks physically and with overpowering force.
My grand realisation of what my Cosmic Aura can do earned a level in the skill, and I also earned a point in Mental Agility. Maybe I won’t be so slow next time.
The interesting thing is that this did not give me another skill. Goldie said she had a Skill called Mental Shield, and Yoboc apparently has Mental Thorns, but my Cosmic Aura is just my Cosmic Aura. This means it is at Apprentice 9 like my regular Cosmic Aura, but I had to experiment with its use.
Giving my mind Mental Tremors is not something I will do again. I kept it really light, and still I tripped and fell as my mind went all over the place. It took me a few minutes to recover.
Flooding my mind with Frigid Void didn’t seem to do anything to me, but possibly it would do something to whoever tried to attack me mentally. Probably it would.
Using Void Sensing on myself did not show an empty head, so I have no excuse for my mistakes.
However.
Big however!
When I stretch out my Cosmic Aura, I can now sense not only affinities but also Mental energy with just the Cosmic Aura. Spiritual Sensing still senses Spiritual Energy, and Void Sensing still senses voids. This is a base function of Cosmic Aura.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Goldie's mind felt hard like a shield, and Yoboc’s felt thorny. They both had developed mind shields, and their effect was there even if the shield was not active. I assume Makara’s mind felt wet from her water affinity, but there was no block or trigger like Yoboc and Goldie. Yoboc and Goldie’s mind defences seem more defined and straightforward than my Cosmic Aura. It is going to take some practice and probably more mental attributes.
Felix was Felix, and he felt much the same as I could feel him through our bond. Bonds were mental, and if elves were the mental experts, one of the things they must specialise in is bonds. Our bond is growing, so I can feel more through the bond than with Cosmic Aura. The bond is like a direct connection, whereas the Cosmic Aura is more remote, like seeing from the outside.
I have a couple of Mental attack skills: Tremor and Frigid Void. I think I was going to test these against the next animals I kill, but I am going to keep them a secret for now. I am sure Goldie and Yoboc have skills they keep for a surprise. I don’t know all their skills.
My Mental Strength is not that high, but this is where I can possibly attack beyond my attributes, as it is more dependent on the average level of Cosmic Aura and which skill I use on top of the Mental Strength. I will increase my Mental Strength when I can.
We took a half-day off near a larger river at the end of a week of running. Makara spent the whole time underwater. It didn’t seem to worry her that it was fresh water rather than salt water. I guess her affinity produces fresh water.
Yoboc and Goldie spent the half day examining the sky and landscape from the top of a mountain. There was a high cloud, which is why he chose today as the rest half-day. He has been pushing his farsight, and Goldie is using hers. They are really cautious. I think Yoboc is extra cautious after the unexpected death of his bond, Sheila.
Felix and I slept. Sleeping and eating are definitely our thing and we have not been doing enough of either. I was rather sad we had left the coast as there were no seals around. My favorite food was not accessible.
Makara brought us a new type of fish for lunch. It had a pinkish flesh.
When Yoboc and Godie joined us, I asked, ” See anything?”
Yoboc replied, “No, but we will stick to the plan.”
Makara groaned. Another week before we slow down.
A week to experiment with my Mental skills on any passing animal. What else should I experiment with? Heat or negating electromagnetism? Heat sounds easier to understand than electro-whatever. I need more knowledge.
It only took a few minutes to get back into the rhythm of running and pushing the sled. Goldie looked over the sled during the break and tut tutted a bit, but she didn’t actually fix anything.
Heat. I knew all about cold, and the void lent itself to cold easily.
The sun is an astral body that emits heat. Both Felix and I enjoy lying in the sun. The warmth is relaxing and soothing. This is nothing like the flash of heat I felt when I awakened the affinity. That was hot and harsh. It burned. So what was the difference?
I mulled it over. I am going to assume the difference is the distance you are away from the heat. It is the same with the cooking fire. If you get too close, you get burned.
The sun is so far from this world that I can’t guess at how far. It circles the world, or maybe the world circles it. Either way, it is an impossible distance, and I only have a small glimpse of how large the world is. I need a lot more information.
That is not relevant to me right now. The sun is a potent astral heat source. The most potent.
Then I thought. The sun is also a source of light—a potent source of light. I can only assume it is some massive type of fire, which is also a source of heat and light. But fire burns and consumes. Does the sun do the same? If so, what does it burn and consume?
Then, I thought of the void. The sun is not like a campfire. It is well known that you remove access to the air and put out a campfire. This can be done with water, sand or just by enclosing it in a pot. The sun, however, burns in the void. There is no air. It is not extinguished by removing the air because it burns without air. I have no idea how that happens, but it obviously does.
The astral creature buried in the Arctic had an affinity for the void and for heat, and I assume the heat is the heat of the sun. Equating the void with cold is easy, but the void is neither hot nor cold. It is nothing.
I feel this is important, but I don’t know how.
Hot, cold, and void are the core things I have acquired from my affinity. No, that is wrong. They are not the core things. They are the obvious things. The surface-level things. I think the core things are still hidden, and this negating of Makara’s electroreceptors is a clue.
Right now, I can only deal with the surface stuff, as that is the limit of my knowledge.
The heat of the sun. A heat and flame that works in the void. Is this what my Cosmic Aura is? A void? No, that is not right, but it is also something that operates in the void or maybe encompasses the void. It encompasses my Void Senses, my Frigid Void, and my Tremor as I use my aura to form boundaries for those things.
This is also a clue to the true nature of the affinity. My Cosmic Aura is centred on me and forms boundaries that other things don’t cross. I can use skills like Frigid Void outside of the Cosmic Aura, but it is harder to do and uses a lot more energy.
Back to heat and flame that operate in the Void. When I got Frigid Void, I concentrated on the cold of the empty void and how that slows everything down. Now I realise the void is neither cold nor hot, but the Astral encompasses both—or should I say the Astral encompasses all three: the hot, the cold, and the void.
The heat of the sun. The fire that burns in the void and never goes out. Think, Ivan, think.