Ashan
45 721
45 721
The morning was incredibly cold which was nothing new for the season. Goku sat cross legged impatiently waiting for Roshi to hurry up and begin the lesson. Roshi had said he was going to show him something amazing that he could do with runes. Goku was looking forward to learning how to inscript a new rune with some new power to discover. He did not see any of the usual supplies which put Goku off. There weren’t even any weights to lift laid out for him to test out his runes.
Goku said, “Something’s definitely off,” when he saw Roshi get out a stool to fetch a book from the top of a bookcase. Roshi nodded with satisfaction when he finally found what he was looking for.
Roshi walked over and handed Goku the book then said, “read chapter seven. I’ve written all I know about this particular technique that we will be practicing today. It involves absorbing ether from runes that you have scribed. Think of it as reclaiming the ether that you’ve already put in to effectively remove a rune. You have been keeping up with your practice and I am willing to bet you can inscribe runes well enough by now.”
Goku looked astonished at the news that he could reclaim ether that was expended on making runes. It seemed almost too good to be true. He erred on the edge of the cautious side as was typical for a student of Roshi who always taught restraint. Goku asked, “what are the downsides? Is this something that I should only use on occasion or…”
Roshi tapped the book with his cane. “Read this before you ask me any questions.”
A groan escaped the hybrid’s lips and his wings twitched in annoyance. Reading was fine and all but he did not have an inherent joy of doing it. He read about how the technique was done and a basic overview about it. The chapter was relatively short compared to some of the others that Goku had been made to read in the past. If it weren’t for his slow reading speed he might have finished before his eyes started to hurt. He encouraged himself to read on and he did for some time. He was working on his dedication to keeping on task without giving up so he kept saying “just one more page” hoping to finish the chapter quickly but despite this he had to take a break about half way through. He massaged his eyes and laid back on the floor.
“What’d you learn so far?” Roshi asked.
“I learned that the amount of ether that can be reclaimed is based on how much energy is left in the rune. There was a bit about the mechanics of how runes lose energy over time but I couldn’t make sense of that. All the runes I’ve placed have only lasted brief periods of time. Is this useful information?” Goku could not fathom even wanting a rune to last all too long from a functional standpoint because there was much he still did not know.
Roshi stroked his long beard and said, “One day your runes will be able to last a very long time. Some will last seemingly indefinitely until activated. These are all things that will come in time. Finish your readings so we can move onto the practical portion of the lesson.”
Goku pushed through his eyes that were not used to reading such small text. He finished up the chapter and gained a little insight as to how to actually do the act of ether reclamation. It was not as helpful as the first half without having even tried it for himself yet.
“I’m ready!” he shouted. He closed the book with a snap and handed it back to Roshi. “If you don’t mind, I’ll try it out now.”
Goku had gotten totally distracted from the question that had been burning in his mind since the beginning. His one track mind couldn’t even remember that he’d forgotten to ask. Roshi had to tap him on the head and ask “wasn’t there something you were wanting to ask at the beginning?”
Goku’s finger was already pulsating with energy when he was asked the question. He looked at Roshi as the realization dawned on him. He had question but had not asked it… what was it?
“Just calm down and try to remember,” Roshi instructed. “Deep breaths, you know the drill.”
The hybrid tried to push the thought of placing runes out of his mind but there was something within him that had no intention of calming down. It took Goku a couple minutes of thinking and deep breathing to remember what his question was. “Oh that’s right. I was going to ask what the risks are. Am I going to inadvertently harm myself by taking on my reclaimed energy?”
Roshi smiled at the question. “As far as I know you shouldn’t have to worry about that. I use them it to remove runes to place different runes that might better fit the situation. Also, to practice placing runes when I was younger. Nobody wants to have to wait until a rune wears off naturally. I think it’s fair to say that unless you’re going out of your way to try harming yourself you’ll be fine”
Goku nodded and turned back to the task at hand. He was pretty good at placing runes now with all the practice he’d had over these long arduous training sessions. The two runes that he knew were committed to memory and he no longer needed a reference page for them because they just came to him. He still couldn’t write them very well on paper but placing them on his body was another story entirely. He empowered his right arm with enhanced strength and closed his eyes. He placed his lips to the arm almost instinctively as his body willed him to draw from the source of energy. The book had said not to do this but he got lost in the moment. He physically sucked on the rune until Roshi whacked him on the head.
“Do it like the book said to do it. I don’t want to see you ever try to do it with your mouth again.” Roshi looked very serious for reasons Goku didn’t understand. He wanted to question his mentor but he was too excited to try out his new technique to give the command a second thought.
Goku placed his hand over the rune and tried to suck the ether with his palm instead of his lips. The ether did not come easily but it did come albeit slowly. Some of the ether was lost to the air and Goku felt like he only absorbed a fraction of what he had expected to.
“That’s better,” Roshi said approvingly. “Now that you can reclaim your expended energy I want you to try making stronger runes. Put a lot of energy into them and let’s push those limits of yours.”
That was precisely what Goku ended up doing. He put more energy into his runes than he had ever done before. Whereas before he was only able to lift a handful of more kilograms with a rune now he was able to lift twice as much weight. He tested this strength by doing some arm curls with some weights. He made a routine of placing a rune, testing it, and then absorbing a good chunk of the energy back into his system. Goku would have happily continued testing out just how strong he could make his runes had Roshi not held him back after he thought his student had used enough energy for one day. He knew all too well what a student could do to himself if left alone to use as much energy as they wanted.
“Don’t get in a habit of practicing too much without my supervision,” he said when Goku was ready to go home. “Until you can absorb the ether with high efficiency you’re going to have the risk of going too far and I don’t want you to end up regretting the consequences.”
“I can do that!” Goku said with a wide grin. “Am I ready to start using runes in everyday life now? I never use them outside of our lessons but I think I’m ready. You saw how well I was placing runes today. I only messed up a few times.”
Roshi wanted to say yes, he really did. He had managed to scare Goku with stories about what happened to people that did not know the power they were dealing with. That had kept Goku a good student and a safe one. However there was only so long a teacher could keep a student in the nest. Roshi still shook his head and said, “you are close, really close. I don’t want to make any promises but I think by the season’s end you will be ready.”
That was good enough for Goku. The hybrid went home with a smile.
